1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction

II The Analyses
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
Columbia (CBS)
Cornell (Johnson)
Dartmouth (Tuck)
Duke (Fuqua)
Harvard (HBS)
INSEAD
London Business School (LBS)
MIT (Sloan)
Northwestern (Kellogg)
NYU (Stern)
Stanford (GSB)
UC Berkeley (Haas)
UCLA (Anderson)
UNC (Kenan-Flagler)
University of Chicago (Booth)
University of Michigan (Ross)
UT Austin (McCombs)
UVA (Darden)
UPenn (Wharton)
Yale (SOM)

The Optional Essay

The Reapplicant Essay
 3

INTRODUCTION

We might be biased, but this is our favorite part of the B-School application process at
Admissionado: Essay Analyses.

This is your chance to take your past achievements, along with your business hopes
and dreams, and... articulate them. This is your chance to knock the admissions
committee off balance, and force them to take notice. Of what, exactly? Of your
prospects of being a future success, pure and simple. The better able you are at making
your success feel inevitable, the better your chances of admission.

In this guide, we will take you through each of the suggested prompts from top MBA
programs and, like surgeons, cut them open and look deep inside. We'll decrypt the
wording and offer insights and strategies on how best to approach each option.

As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us. We'd love to help.

info@admissionado.com 866-409-4753
 4

CARNEGIE MELLON (TEPPER)

 5

CARNEGIE MELLON (TEPPER)

Tepper Essay 1

Imagine that you meet up with a member of the admission committee at an airport
while on a layover. You have an opportunity to make a memorable impression. Use this
essay to introduce yourself. Include any information that you believe is important for
the committee member to know about you both professionally and personally.
(Maximum 300-350 words, 12-point font, double-spaced).

Many B-Schools have slimmed their required essay sections over the years. Tepper is
the latest to attempt to essentialize a candidate through a single, short essay. Let’s
have a look…

First thing you need to do is develop a sense of what’s interesting about you… not just to
yourself, but to others as well. This is more art than science. But we have (an
admittedly crude) method for at least kickstarting that private investigation. Here’s
how it works:

1. Write down your most impressive features (list of 10). Think of features as any
of the following: achievements in general, talents, unique personal traits,
interesting life experiences, key professional achievements, unbelievably
innovative “big idea,” cool skills, etc. Some examples: Top marks at an Ivy or IIT
or Tsinghua; GMAT damn near 800; worked in a leadership role at a place like
Google, Tesla, BP, huge family enterprises; from some place other than America,
India, or China (Moldova, Uruguay, anywhere in Africa, etc.); consistent and
strong leadership role in a volunteer capacity at a place like Red Cross, Amnesty
International, etc.; speak five languages; you decided one day to become a
contortionist and became famous for it… at Goldman Sachs; and so on.

2. Rank this list. How? In terms of which one is most meaningful to YOU
PERSONALLY. This requires discipline and a heaping teaspoon of honesty.
Think of this as a private admission to yourself… which one of these are you
most proud of? Do you care most about? Is your greatest achievement? Or the
hobby you are most passionate about? What defines you the most? It is
somehow – impossibly – a combination of all those things. Take a swing, and
rank them 1 through 10 (1 being the MOST).
 6

3. Weight this list. Use the following scale and place this number NEXT to your
updated (ranked) list:

• 1 point – No one else on Earth can lay claim to this.

• 5 points – Very few applicants have achieved/done/experienced this.
• 10 points – Many others have achieved or done or experienced this.
• 15 points – Virtually every competitive applicant has this.

4. Multiply. Multiply the initial rank and the weight to general a Final Number.
(To illustrate, let’s say a leadership story from McKinsey ranked 6th on your list
and it was somewhat unique but not all that unique, and you weighted it a “5”
(very few students have achieved this), you’d end up with a Final Score of 30 for
the McKinsey item (6 x 5).

5. Reorder Your List. Lowest Number FIRST. Look at it. See what it tells you. (This
is not a perfect methodology by any means, and sometimes it won’t reveal
much… but in most cases it can be a useful tool to at least nudge you in the right
direction.)

Here’s why we went through all that. Given a ONE-SHOT-TO-LEAVE-AN-IMPRESSION

scenario, you will probably be best served focusing on the items that end up at the TOP
of your final list, and leaving aside the stuff at the bottom. In weighting these items,
this exercise should expose traits and achievements you may be accustomed to
regarding as impressive, but that are, in fact, not as impressive as some other stuff in
your arsenal. THOSE are the items (your “greatest hits”) that you need to bring to THIS
kind of impression.

Once you zero in on your top two or three items that combine well to paint a strong but
also interesting/crackling portrait of who you are, what makes you tick, and why you
should remain STUCK in this admission committee’s head, now it’s time to draft this
sucker. 300-350 words is going to be two to three paragraphs max. Our
recommendation is to waste NO time ramping up. Dive in. If you’re the guy/gal with the
game changing idea, open with it:

“What if we’re looking at energy capture through solar panels incorrectly? What if we
could achieve 2x the projected energy capture through existing automobiles instead
within 8 months?”

Or, lead with the problem that bumps and sets your idea: “Companies today with over
500 employees spend X on Y, instead of Z. The problem? ABC. Here’s how we can solve
it.”

If you’re a born leader (and that’s high on your list from our exercise), lead with that:
“The battlefield looks different from a TV screen at an airport than it does from the
inside of a tank.”
 7

You get the idea. No soft introductions. There’s simply no time. Get to the thing you
need to talk about. And go through one or two or three things off your list. Use maybe
200-250 words of your total on that. “The stuff.” For your final 100-150 words, make a
case for why that stuff was necessary to communicate. Convey (somehow) that that
information should motivate ANYONE listening to want to offer this guy/gal a seat at
their school because it foretells success in the future. As long as you have those two
pieces (communicating succinctly your TOP traits/qualities as well as some context for
why that makes you fierce as an MBA candidate), your first draft will be headed in a
solid direction.
 8

COLUMBIA (CBS)
 9

COLUMBIA (CBS)
CBS MBA Short Answer Essay

What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (51 characters maximum)

That’s right, folks. 51 characters. This question used to be 200 characters. Then it was
100. Two years ago it was 75. Last year it was changed to 50. And now… they’ve upped
the game by a single, solitary character. The overall approach should be damn near the
same as last year.

CBS is not fooling around – they want you to get to the point. And fast. 50 characters
isn’t dinner, a stroll around the park, a lovely nightcap against a backdrop of smooth
jazz, into “who knows.” It’s more… the 1-hour motel model. Lay it on em.

Perhaps the most liberating way to approach this is to see this NOT as an opportunity
to impress, but rather to inform. All they want is a RUDDER. To help frame the rest of
your essays. That’s all. It’s the equivalent of “state your name and occupation” – a
measure taken just so everyone has their bearings.

Ergo, don’t overthink it. The prize here is clarity, not intrigue. Don’t feel the pressure to
wow. And don’t waste precious air-time writing stuff like “My immediate post-MBA
professional goal is to…” because that would have been half your response. 1-hour
motel, folks. Getterdone. Resume-like brevity, but… good-resume-like CLARITY.

One last thing—there’s a difference between “post/position” and “goal.” The best answer
here nails both. Too often, we see candidates simply list the name of a position at a
company, which is mostly meaningless. We need a touch of context to understand
what the “aim” is, “why position X” within your 50-character response. So, roughly
speaking, it may take on this structure: “position x in order to y.” Or, “achieve x at y
(type) company.”

Got it? Good. Let’s move on.

Once you lock your strategic positioning, and develop a clear, precise brand for what
makes you the strongest possible applicant… just say it as clearly and leanly as you
can. From 75 characters to 50, they’re sending a message, which is that anything that
gets in the way of our understanding of what your immediate goal is, is simply
unwelcome.
 10

Use one of their examples from two years ago as a guide: “Work in business
development for a media company.”

CBS MBA Essay 1

Through your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your

professional path to date. What are your career goals going forward, and how will the
Columbia MBA help you achieve them? (100-750 words)

Same question as last year, only instead of a 500 word maximum, you’ve got anywhere
between 100-750 words to work with.

This is mostly a standard goals and school fit essay. But they make an effort to try to
keep you off of the resume dump approach. Now, there IS a way to slip in some of your
achievements, but only because the good version of this will strengthen the “how CBS
will help” piece.

In order to explain where you fall short, and therefore why you need CBS to help fill the
gaps, we need to know where you excel. So, in THAT context, you can explain what
you’re great at, and how it relates to your goals. But it’s all in service of the moment
when you reveal that there are key gaps in your skill set.

Be specific here. The more specific you are about the thing you’re missing, the better
able you’ll be to tie CBS specifically to addressing those gaps best.

CBS MBA Essay 2

Columbia Business School’s students participate in industry focused New York

immersion seminars; in project based Master Classes; and in school year internships.
Most importantly, our students are taught by a combination of distinguished research
faculty and accomplished practitioners. How will you take advantage of being “at the
very center of business”? (100-500 words)

They changed up the phrasing a little bit, but the question is still the same as last year.
The only real difference is the word count, which went from a maximum of 25o to this
year’s 100-500 word range. So let’s dive in…

Actionable, practical, real-life, believable, tangible arguments, folks. Not… “stuff

everyone knows about New York already but doesn’t demonstrate a connection to you
personally.” Don’t tell us that New York is the financial capital of the world. Show us—
instead—how that might affect your experience. Walk us through a hypothetical. Or a
 11

way in which NYC has affected you already and how, therefore, it may affect you again
once you’re at CBS. Don’t just tell us what the opportunities are—don’t LIST stuff. We
know the list. Columbia knows the list. No one cares about the attributes.

In 100-500 words, there isn’t much room to faff. Walk us through a few very tangible
examples of what may happen, and why this is valuable. Challenge yourself and
imagine that each of the world’s most amazing cities had comparable business schools.
And let’s say you were accepted to each of them. Why New York over the rest?

Here’s another way to skin it. Congratulations, you’ve been accepted to Stanford,
Wharton, and Harvard. But you’re gonna turn all three down because they all lack one
thing: New York City. Convince us that you’re the kind of guy who might actually turn
down H/S/W for this reason—it has to be specific as hell in order to pass the smell test.

Think back to chemistry. Think back to acids and bases. Think litmus paper. Ringing a
bell? We know, it was a long time ago for us, too. Well, roughly speaking here’s how it
works—if you have a MYSTERY substance, say a liquid, and we’re trying to determine
whether it’s basic or acidic, we dip a piece of litmus paper into the liquid to … see how it
reacts. If it turns BLUE it means the solution is basic; if it turns RED it means the
solution is acidic. Same paper, different colors based on the X-factor of the mystery
solutions.

To CBS, you guys are the mysterious clear solution. They have no idea what happens
when you “mix with” New York City. This is a model you can consider. Something
HAPPENS when you (clear liquid solution) MIXES WITH New York City (the Litmus
paper).

What can we learn about you based on this chemical equation New York City + You =
XXXX?

The absolute worst thing you can do is tell us about New York. Similarly, we don’t
wanna know about YOU either (in isolation). We wanna know about the COLLISION of
you and NYC. Our safety goggles are on. Let the mixing commence.

CBS MBA Essay 3

CBS Matters, a key element of the School’s culture, allows the people in your Cluster to
learn more about you on a personal level. What will your Clustermates be pleasantly
surprised to learn about you? (100-250 words)

We LOVE this question, so we were thrilled to see CBS bring it back this year. And,
again, while the word range has changed a bit, they’re still looking for the same exact
approach as last year:
 12

Take some risks here, people. For someone else to reel you IN, not the other way
around. This is not an iron shot on a 300-yard par 4. Think about this one for a second—
what’s the WORST kind of surprise party? “The one you kinda already knew about.” The
best ones, on the other hand, are the ones you never saw coming—it’s kind of a
silly/circular thing to point out, that the best type of surprise is the one where you’re
most surprised. But trust us, people shank this kind of thing all the time, out of timidity.

A good (but by no means the only) way to approach this is to think about your close
circle (family, tight friends, etc.) and think about things that may surprise THEM. That
can be a GREAT well to dip from. For the ideation process, mind you—there is a whole
other art form to turning this into something that will CHARM an adcom and make
them smile and desire you as an addition to their program, but let’s not get ahead of
ourselves. First things first, the “thing.”

Another way to think of it—think about people with similar backgrounds as you.
Similar education, similar career experiences, similar ethnicity, etc. etc. Now, figure out
the coolest way in which you’re UNLIKE those guys. What do you have, what can you
do, what have you experienced, what thing is… you… that NOT A SINGLE other guy in
that group can lay claim to? (If your “thing” is somewhat common, guess what—we’re
gonna roll our eyes.)

A third way to skin it is to shock us with something that runs contrary to what one
might expect of your “type.” “Yes, I know, based on my resume and all my specs you
may suspect that I… XXXXX. Well, in fact, you may pleasantly surprised to learn that I…
YYYYYYYY.” That statement should be followed by the sounds of minds being blown.

Smart, successful “plusses” to a great business school all have one thing in common:
they know how to socialize. And are likable. Can you really be great at business in pure
isolation? Maybe, but it’s not the norm. Typically, you’re gonna need to interact with at
least one person along the way. And probably many more. Charm and likability go a
LONG way. Show us that you have a sense of humor. Some wit. The ability to poke fun
at yourself. If it looks like you’re trying to show off here, you’re doing it wrong.

It’s not “people will be surprised to learn that I climbed Mount Everest.”

Instead it’s “people will be surprised to learn that I climbed Mount Everest given that I
couldn’t do a single push-up in gym class throughout high school.”

See the difference?

 13

CORNELL (JOHNSON)
 14

CORNELL (JOHNSON)
Johnson Essay 1

At Cornell, we value students who create impact. Please indicate the opportunities for
impact that you have identified through engagement with our community and
describe how these interactions have influenced your decision to apply to Johnson.
(500 word maximum)

This is a sneaky, sneaky question. It could just as easily read, “Prove to us that you
have researched the living HELL out of Johnson and have a demonstrable AFFINITY for
our program. Please convey this deep knowledge and preference for our program
through… let’s see… sure why the hell not: “impact.”

Most likely, Cornell is sincere about valuing impact. But what they may care
about moreis trying to gauge whether they’re going to be a “safety” school for the folks
out there hoping to score admits from HBS, GSB, Wharton, etc. What will help Cornell
(and programs like Cornell, similarly ranked, etc.) in the long run is a cohort that is
obsessed with Johnson, over-eager to take a BITE out of the program, and therefore
poised for wild success.

This will bode well for their graduate placement stats, as well as the “how many say
yes when we admit them” stats, all of which will sum to improve their appeal to would-
be candidates and therefore improve their ability to be selective. You get the idea.
So, sincerity is KEY. If you can prove beyond a shadow of the doubt that your
engagement with Johnson extends way way way beyond some internet researching
and perhaps a conversation or two with an alum (or student) here or there, you’re
moving in the right direction.

Think of it this way. Imagine two applicants: Moe and Curly. Moe’s the McKinsey
superstar: 780 GMAT, age 25, promotions ahead of his peers up the wazoo. You get the
idea. He’s the kind of guy with HBS written all over him. How deeply do you think this
guy’s going to investigate Cornell’s MBA program? Think about it in terms of minutes
or hours he’ll spend on it. (Answer: no more than he needs to.)

Curly on the other hand is 29, GMAT 690, yada yada yada, probably a stretch for H/S/W,
but maybe Johnson is the absolute DREAM school. How much time do you think CURLY
spends investigating Johnson’s curriculum? And faculty? And in-class as well as
extracurricular offerings? (Answer: not hours, but days. Weeks. Maybe more.)
 15

Both Moe and Curly answer the above question. Whose essay do you think stands a
better chance of feeling authentic with respect to communicating a connection with
the Johnson MBA? Even if Moe is the stronger candidate on paper, you can be sure that
no matter how hard that guy tries, he can only do so much with 25 minutes of cursory
“research” for the purposes of hammering out this essay. That’s not your competition.
The bar here is CURLY. The guy whose TOP choice is Johnson. The guy who has
researched the living HELL out of this program. The guy who not only knows
professors by name but has likely been following their careers for a while. The guy who
can probably name buildings on campus because he’s visited them… more than once.
That guy. Just keep that in mind as you proceed.

Now let’s talk about impact. The real key here is not to talk about your ability to make
impact in a vacuum. The key here is to tether your ability to make impact… with
Johnson specifically. Put differently, you need to make the case that of all the places
where you will have the opportunity to “make impact,” your affinity for Johnson affords
you the BEST chance to make the most MEANINGFUL VERSION of that impact. Bigger
impact, better impact, however you care to define it. See the difference? This is not
about puffing your chest and showing THAT you are capable of seizing opportunity. It’s
about showing why you believe you will seize that opportunity in the best way
possible at Cornell. Here’s a cool trick for how to achieve that:

1) First establish what it is you wanna do. An example of an area where you’re
excited to change something, leave something behind, “create impact.” Be clear
about what that thing is, but don’t dwell, just give us enough to “get it.” (Maybe
75 words or s0)
2) Next, explain the circumstances in which you believe you thrive BEST. Point to
specific instances in your (recent) past that support this. Explain why in
CERTAIN environments, you excel in a certain way. Be specific. (75-100 words)
3) Finally, connect the dots. Show us how your engagement with the Johnson
program, your investigation of what it’s all about, what it has to offer, your
communications with students (past or present), the sum total of everything
you’ve done to understand what Johnson is… has convinced you that this is THE
place where you will shine brightest. This is THE place where your prospects for
“creating impact” are best. Show us specifically. And even better, make a case
for how this program is somehow better than others in its class. (If you can pull
that off, BONUS POINTS.) (More than one paragraph, 300-350 words or so)

With those three pieces as your first cement pour, your foundation will be a fantastic
starting place to then sculpt.
 16

Johnson Essay 2

You are the author of your Life Story. Please create the Table of Contents for the book
in the space provided or upload it as an attachment. We value creativity and
authenticity and encourage you to approach this essay with your unique style.
Alternative submission formats may include a slide presentation, links to pre-existing
media (personal website, digital portfolio, YouTube etc.), as well as visually enhanced
written submissions. (Maximum file size is 5 MB. If you choose to submit a written
Table of Contents, please limit your submission to 500 words or fewer. Please limit
multimedia submissions to under 5 minutes.)

Cornell Johnson’s table of contents essay question – this is the one they are famous for,
and have been asking for years.

Attempting to cram your life story into the chapter TITLES of your book is to miss the
point entirely. That’s what “the book itself” is for, is it not? What are chapter titles? What
is their purpose? Before we attack this, let’s take a step back and consider what
question the Johnson MBA admissions committee is truly asking. Do they really want
to know your life story? Do they really even just want a snapshot OF your life story
because they’re curious to know about you? Nope.

How many times in ANY business school (or any degree program for that matter) has
the admissions committee followed up with their choices to track their progress?
Never. So if they’re not after your life story (or even a glimpse of it through a table of
contents conceit), then what do they want to know by asking you about a glimpse of
your life story through a table of contents?

It’s all about the gears, folks.

Think about those crazy questions you hear about for McKinsey interviews or Google
interviews. The ones where they ask you how you’d find your way out of a blender if
you were a miniaturized human, with one minute to go before the blades started
whirring. Clearly, they’re not interested in figuring this out because it relates to a
practical version of this problem. They wanna know how you think. They wanna see
the GEARS move and how you interpret the question. How you process the words. How
your brain’s algorithm leads you down certain pathways. How you weigh those
pathways against one another. Where it takes you. How much you sweat during that
process. Where you end up. But… they don’t care about the answer. They care about the
moments leading UP to the answer. The part of the process where the gears are in
motion.
 17

Why? Because the gears give us a sense for what kind of person you are. Maybe in
your approach we see a sense of whimsy. Or a sense of militaristic precision. Or a
glimpse of a compassionate leader. It’s all in the approach. WHAT you say here is far
less important than HOW you say it. We know this because they have forced your
hands with the “Table of Contents” approach. There is room here ONLY for an
APPROACH that tells the story, and not enough for the story itself to do the talking. A
straight approach is almost guaranteed to fall flat; unless your snapshots are SO
remarkable, they don’t require creativity. If for example your life story goes something
like “Started Apple in garage. Took company public. Reinvented the music industry.
Reinvented cellular phones. Reinvented retail shopping for electronics…” In this case,
you don’t need a ton of creativity. But this applies to outliers, not the typical candidate.
 18

DARTMOUTH (TUCK)
 19

DARTMOUTH (TUCK)

Please respond fully but concisely to the following essay
questions. There are no right or wrong answers. We
encourage applicants to limit the length of their responses
to 500 to 700 words for Essay #1 and 500 words for Essay #2.
Please double-space your responses.

Tuck Essay 1

Tuck educates wise leaders who better the world of business. What are your short- and
long-term goals? How will a Tuck MBA enable you to become a wise leader with global
impact? (500–700 Words)

Sorry to say, but this is a bog standard MBA application essay. All the same, let's zero in
on their deliberate choice of words: "wise leader" and "global impact." The only way to
veer off course is to develop a killer pitch that doesn't jibe with their definition of "wise"
or their sense for what might have "global impact."

Advice for what NOT to do here: take an existing essay (that may read PERFECTLY for
another school) and simply tack on an explanation for how it might have global impact
(if it doesn't lend itself to that extrapolation).

Example: "My long-term goal is to quadruple the size of my family business. Oh and one
day I would like for my example as CEO to serve as inspiration to... CEOs from... all over
the world! Global Impact Forever!"

If the successful version of your goals don't have direct (or indirect) impact on the
world, Tuck is basically asking you to think bigger. Or, if not bigger, then more...
dimensionally. Maybe it's not about size, but rather, about re-envisioning your product,
your idea, your grand vision to have a different KIND of impact. Something that
addresses the interconnectivity of humans all over the world.

It's part of the self-selecting process. Tuck wants to attract folks whose ideas BEGIN
with that end goal already baked INTO their grand plans. Their calculation is that like-
minded individuals will come together as a community to create the kind of B-School
alchemy that will lead to good things on a global scale. But don't all business schools
share that goal? Of course. Tuck is just trying to weed out the folks for whom that
instinct doesn't occur naturally.
 20

So, Step 1: have that instinct, naturally. Ha.

Okay, so, you've given your goals some thought and you've almost set – as a premise –
that your aspiration is to create some kind of ripple effect that will address a
community not necessarily bound by geography. Great first step. But there's one more
piece to it. Do you seem WISE?!

What exactly do they mean by wise? What's the first thing you think of when you hear
the word "wise"? You don't need to think too hard, you're doing it right now, as we speak.
You're picturing someone. Doesn't matter what race or gender you're imagining, but I
can tell you with 99% certainty that whomever you're picturing, that person is... old.
Possibly grey hair, possibly bespectacled. But for sure... old.

What is it about old people and wisdom? In the interest of avoiding too long a tangent,
suffice it to say that with age comes perspective. Time has a nasty way of smoothing
out what can be confusing (or misleading) peaks and troughs of life. Older people who
have "lived through it all" are able to bring that to bear on mundane things in a way
that younger folks can't. Essentially, it's an extra dimension – let's call it perspective –
that enables "older" people to see beyond the immediacy of the moment. For a
businessman or woman, this extra nugget can be the difference between a prudent
CEO and one prone to rampant malfeasance. Between a socially conscious leader, and
one whose sole motivation is to juice the bottom line (possibly at the expense of others).
Someone wise is less prone to repeat the mistakes of those who have erred before him.

Sound like good traits for a future business leader? Damn straight. Here's a good trick
for testing whether your ideas seem like they come from someone "wise": does it sound
like the rationale behind it is something a grandparent, or your professor uncle might
heartily endorse? If your ideas include values that feel like they may resonate with
folks older than you, you're on the right track. Now, this doesn't mean your ideas can't
be modern. God help us all if we LIMIT our imaginations to what older generations can
imagine. Progress is only possible because we – younger minds – shatter those limits
daily. But, the truly dynamite combination is the sizzling NEW and INNOVATIVE idea
with the multidimensional perspectives that a "wise person" may bring to bear. Now,
we're talking about stuff that – you guessed it – may lead to actual global impact. (See
the game Tuck is playing here?)

Here's a trick. Rather than write the script for your goals from the perspective of you,
sitting where you are today, looking forward... imagine some time in the future, say, 50
years from now. You're retired, you're 70-something years old. And you're looking
BACK at everything you have achieved. From THIS GUY'S perspective, explain the
value of your life's work. Explain, from the perspective of a 70-year old person why
what you achieved was important. And how. Hopefully, you'll start to notice some of
the intangibles, some of that ripple effect stuff. The "global reach" aspects. Now that
you have a sense of it, revisit the question, but from the "today" version of yourself, and
 21

capture all that stuff in your pitch for what it is you wanna do, and why. Structure-wise,
this can easily follow the general structure for a standard goals essay:

1) Establish the Problem/Identify the Opportunity (keeping in mind the global

community)
2) High-Level GLIMPSE of Long-Term Aspirations
3) Walk us Through The Career Path/Take us on a Journey
4) The Short-Term Plan, Into the Long-Term Plan (again, with the "wise" man's
perspective seared in)
5) What is it about Tuck that helps you deliver a better (even the best) version of
all that?

Tuck Essay 2

As a diverse and global community, our students arrive at the same place from many
different paths. Tell us about an experience in which you have had to live, learn and/or
work with other people very different from yourself. What challenges and/or
opportunities did you experience, how did you respond, and what did you learn about
yourself as a result? (500 Words)

Let’s zoom in tight on one word in particular: “different.” Tuck references different paths
as well as difference. Before we tackle the essay, let’s get our arms around this idea of
“different” (or “difference”) first.

Is it ethnic difference? Class difference? Difference in religious affiliation? Difference in

gender? Difference in general approach to business? The truth is… it can be any or all of
those things. Typically when we see the phrase “people who are different from you” we
think ethnicity. That association is generally the strongest, quickest, most obvious.
Next usually comes class or socioeconomic status. But the truth is you can be in a
room with people from the exact same ethnicity and the exact same socioeconomic
status who have a wildly different approach to business and they may make you feel
like a different SPECIES, let alone different human. And to navigate that difference can
require more agility than navigating even traditional cultural barriers. So your task is
to figure out what all your options are… and then pick the best one.

Before we even get to that list though, we wanna dig one layer deeper into what makes
for a really great ” difference overcome” story. The key lies in the extent to which you
were confronted with a challenge to which you either didn’t know the answer to and
had to figure it out along the way, OR you knew the answer, but hadn’t encountered it
ever before.
 22

Example 1 – Didn’t know what to do. This is the part where you’re born in
Germany, raised by German parents, lived in Europe all your life, have been
used to a very German and/or European way of doing things. Your definitions
for committing to contracts or for reliability, etc. are powerfully shaped by that
background. Then the day comes when you do business with someone from,
say, India or China. Hear that loud screeching sound? That’s the sound of the
rule book being shredded. Your assumptions are all wrong, your expectations
are therefore topsy-turvy, you just have no idea how to deal with it, but
excusing yourself is obviously not an option, so… you figure it out. Somehow,
you figure it out. This is the “didn’t know what to do” scenario.

Example 2 – Never encountered it before. This is the version where you’ve

heard all those stories about unbelievably unscrupulous, profit-hungry,
malicious bosses, but you’ve generally had the fortune of working with and for
reasonable, thoughtful, morally sound people, etc. You “know the type” but it has
never been a part of YOUR world. Along comes a project, or a job, or some
encounter where your success depends on navigating a relationship with “that
guy.” Holy crap, I “knew these guys existed but I’ve never actually encountered
it for myself.” This is the part where you are forced to… figure it out. And you do,
somehow.

The best stories for this type of essay generally come from those challenges where you
were knocked off balance… the most. Not the ones where the stakes were the highest, or
the challenge seems most obvious to the outsider. Rather, the ones where you were
LEAST confident in your ability to succeed as a function of not UNDERSTANDING your
teammates, partner, colleagues, whomever. Not understanding them because of
Reason X. Now, the “Reason X” must be something that stems from something SUCH
AS… cultural difference. Or, religious difference. Or, different “world view” or “point of
view” tied to industry or political leanings or… whatever the source. If you’re a Wall
Street profit-hungry banker guy/gal and you’re trying to get a bunch of Ivy League
millennials to buy-in to your idea… you will need to change up–FAST.

Okay. So think about all the times you were knocked off balance. All the times you ever
said to yourself “Oh dear lord, how am I gonna get out of THIS one.” Or, “Crap, I know
exactly what to do, but this guy… {or these guys} because of their background in X
make it hard for me to lead this {or navigate this}.” Write down maybe two or three
moments in your professional career (or perhaps in your private life) where this was
the case. Then, try to determine which of those dug you into the DEEPEST hole.
Whichever time you were LEAST sure you would prevail (prevail = get through
whatever it was). THAT is most likely going to be the story you’ll want to explore. We
 23

want to hear about the time you were tested the most, and what you did to deal with
that, and why that lesson is going to serve you and your business goals well.

Let’s talk structure:

1) Explain the “situation” or the problem. Don’t get ahead of yourself and address
the PEOPLE (and what made them different YET). Instead, focus on the problem.
Set it up. What needed to be done. Why was it important. What did you stand to
lose (the stakes). Etc.
2) Explain the CHALLENGE. Namely, the thing that made the people who were
involved “different.” Your version will be… your version. Maybe it’s religion.
Maybe it’s skin color. Maybe it’s language. Whatever it is, reveal it here.
3) Next, walk us through the way(s) in which this KNOCKED YOU OFF BALANCE.
This is the KEY folks. Explain what your comfort level was, and now explain
why this was ruffled. Walk us through what it felt like to be unsure of yourself.
To not know how to navigate things because you didn’t have a MAP for this
issue. You were gonna need to LEARN something NEW in order to deal with this
difference.
4) Explain what you did to learn. Explain how you navigated this challenge. Walk
us through the ways in which your views changed, your tactics evolved, your
decision-making algorithms sharpened. We should be able to picture – as you
explain all this – the way in which your world got bigger, and your potential as a
businessman/businesswoman just got more FIERCE.
5) Connect it. Finally, connect the thing(s) you learned about yourself to your
goals, or to your prospects for succeeding IN those goals, or both. Make it clear
to the reader that this story is relevant because it can serve as a PROOF for why
you are bound for success. Explain the ways in which this experience taught
you something relevant that you have applied, and will continue to apply,
toward your short term and long terms goals.

 24

DUKE (FUQUA)
 25

DUKE (FUQUA)
Short Answer Questions

Answer all 3 of the following questions. For each question, respond in 500 characters
only (the equivalent of about 100 words).

• What are your short-term goals, post-MBA?

• What are your long-term goals?
• Life is full of uncertainties, and plans and circumstances can change. As a
result, navigating a career requires you to be adaptable. Should the short-term
goals that you provided above not materialize what alternative directions have
you considered?

This is unchanged from last year, except that they’re bumping you up to EconPlus and
are giving you just a few more words/characters to stretch your legs and make your
points. All this means is that your answers shouldn’t be unnaturally clunky because
you were forced to be so brief. You still need to be concise, but now you have a little
extra space to be nice and clear.

What are your short-term goals, post-MBA?

Don’t “clear your throat” and tee up an elaborate fluff setup. “My short-term goals after I
receive my MBA are probably best stated by the following words, chosen carefully, and
after much deliberation” … you get the idea. Cut out all that fat and go straight to what
you’re gonna do. A good way to mentally FRAME this is to think of the ST goals as a
means to an end (the LT goals). “In order to achieve LT goal X, first I will A, then B, then
C. {Insert one sentence about why this makes sense.}” That GENERAL approach will get
you a good ways toward your ultimate response.

What are your long-term goals?

As always, don’t just focus on the job title or position—by itself, it’s meaningless. Give us
the context. Give us the intended RESULT of that position, the EFFECT it has on an
industry, on a population, on society, on technology, on something even small, but in an
impactful way. You don’t want to achieve the title of “CEO” … you wanna achieve XX and
YY and ZZ THROUGH the position of CEO of ABC. See the difference?
 26

Life is full of uncertainties, and plans and circumstances can change. As a result,
navigating a career requires you to be adaptable. Should the short-term goals that you
provided above not materialize what alternative directions have you considered?

A great gift. An opportunity to show how NIMBLE you are. ST goals don’t work out? No
problem. Here’s another way I’m gonna get to where I need to go. Imagine for a second
you’re a male, if you’re not. And that you have a pregnant wife, going into labor. She’s in
the passenger seat of your car, and she’s screaming, and you are racing toward the
nearest hospital. You have the route planned out way ahead of time, and the trip is
going beautifully. Except, when you make a turn, you notice that there’s a three-car
accident on the street you NEED. Cops block it off, street is off limits. What next. Do you
turn to your wife and say “Oh well, honey, we tried. Good luck with that birth, if you
need ideas for names I know a guy”? Not if you want to see the sun rise again.

In that situation, and really put yourself inside this mindset, you wouldn’t hesitate for a
SECOND without figuring out an ALTERNATE WAY TO GET TO WHERE YOU NEEDED
TO GO. There’s always another way. In fact, you wouldn’t even idle in the car, would
you? You’d already KNOW that alternate route. That’s what doers do. That’s what guys
who succeed do. They figure it out.

So here you go. Here’s your three-car accident—the ST goals don’t materialize. Keep the
car in “Drive,” folks. Where do you go next? What are your alternate routes? The key
here isn’t to nail the exact correct alternate route so much as demonstrate that you
know “what needs to happen, in order for your goals to materialize.” You can convey
that here by showing how alternate paths will also work (maybe they’re less efficient,
more costly, etc. but they will get you there).

Fuqua Essay 1 –25 Random Things About Yourself

The “Team Fuqua” spirit and community is one of the things that sets The Duke MBA
experience apart, and it is a concept that extends beyond the student body to include
faculty, staff, and administration. When a new person joins the Admissions team, we
ask that person to share with everyone in the office a list of “25 Random Things About
Yourself.” As an Admissions team, we already know the new hire’s professional and
academic background, so learning these “25 Random Things” helps us get to know
someone’s personality, background, special talents, and more.

In this spirit, 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
 27

with us your list of “25 Random Things” about YOU. 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.

Random, folks. The absolute worst way to play this is to “clearly not have fun with it.” If
you take this too seriously, and look at it like an opportunity to impress them with
more achievements, you’re going to bore them to tears, and potentially turn them off.
To avoid having fun with it will almost GUARANTEE that they conclude that “this is the
type of person who is incapable of having fun.” That person is going to be a net
negative on campus. We’re looking for “wins.” People who ADD to the community.
Those people have personalities. Charm. Wit. Playfulness. Spirit. If this isn’t in you…
you’d better get it fast.

Random doesn’t mean “by itself.” It has to tell us something about you. Example:

“A hummingbird flaps its wings about 70 times in a second.”

Great. But… this tells us what about you? The random thing must give us a key to your
coolness, your quirkiness, your… self. Somehow.

“When I was nine years old, in charge of “snacks” for a class camp out, I brought
croissants. That was the day I realized I was not only born on the wrong continent, but
in the wrong century.”

See the difference? This is revealing. Endearing. Self-deprecating. Tells us something

about the author. 25 things like that. Also, don’t be afraid to get creative. Make up your
own conceits to GET you to a place of 25 random things:

“If I had to pick five celebrities to start a brand new civilization, they would be: Person
(witty reason), Person 2 (witty reason), etc etc.” Don’t steal that, cuz it’ll look suspicious
when several people submit the same thing! But you see the IDEA here, that you can
literally invent ANY NUMBER of cool premises to help you reveal something about
yourself and your attitudes.

Fuqua Essay 2 – (The Long Essay)

Fuqua prides itself on cultivating a culture of engagement. Our students enjoy a wide
range of student-led organizations that provide opportunities for leadership
development and personal fulfillment, as well as an outlet for contributing to society.
Our student-led government, clubs, centers, and events are an integral part of the
 28

student culture and are vital to providing you with a range of experiential learning and
individual development experiences.

Based on your understanding of the Fuqua culture, how do you see yourself engaging
in and contributing to our community, outside of the classroom? Your response should
be no more than 2 pages in length.

Your ultimate goal here? To elicit a reader response that goes something like:

1. “Yep, this kid clearly bleeds Duke.”

2. “Yep, this kid is gonna light a fire here.”
3. “Yep.” {Translation: I believe the commitment behind his/her words here.}

The key to this question is… are you convincing? This is the part, folks, where what you
say matters less than how you say it. It is very possible to say all the right things. To
indicate that you are going to start Club X, and to engage in Duke Thing Y, and to
contribute Awesome Thing Z thing to the Duke community. But how? By doing
research, by organizing your arguments so that they are logically sound, seem well
considered, etc.

But… if the Adcom thinks that you would probably pick, say, Darden or Ross or Yale
SOM over Duke, none of those arguments will weigh much. What you need to achieve
is the exact opposite. Let’s take those statements above and ADD another crucial one:

• “If we admit this kid, there is an unbelievably good chance he’s gonna accept,
regardless of where else he gets in.”

If you establish THIS as your burden, it will (it should, anyway) focus your approach to
this response in an excellent way. Imagine, for example, that your reader does NOT
believe that you are sincere in your stated desire to attend Duke. How would you use
this essay prompt to convince him/her otherwise? Address the elements in this
question, but in reality, prove to the reader that no matter how many acceptance letters
you receive, Duke is the place you are going to engage with the most.

Now. How exactly do you do that? Well for starters it helps if that’s actually the case,
ha! But let’s suppose your are business-school-agnostic at this stage, and simply want
to attend whichever TOP MBA program accepts you. Allow yourself to APPEAR to be
that first guy, the one who would rather attend Duke than Harvard. In order to achieve
that, you need to demonstrate two things:
 29

1) Demonstrate deep knowledge for what makes Fuqua… Fuqua.

In other words, if the Duke experience is supposedly different from the Yale experience,
or the Ross experience, how so? (And then map those differences to things you need –
THROUGH your explanation for how you will engage in the Duke community.)

2) Make an emotional argument for why Duke revs you up.

Show how Duke fulfills something inside you that another school doesn’t. Or, why
Duke’s version is somehow more appealing to you. This is art, not science. Do you have
a girlfriend? Boyfriend? Husband? Wife? Child? Can you explain to someone why you
like this person? Try it. Do it on paper. Maybe it starts with “quantifiable” traits. But
hopefully, at some point, you reach a moment where you find yourself… unable to
quantify the way a loved one makes you feel. Try – like hell – to explain IN WORDS
what that thing is. What your emotion is, and how this person elicits that emotion. You
won’t be able to, or you may discover a way to. It’s all gold. All of it. Take a look and see
what that looks like, and then see if you can adapt it to the Duke community somehow.

When you put all of that stuff together, you should end up with some interesting stuff
in your first draft. Here’s one version of an outline that may help kick things off:

1. Establish what you’re looking for in a B-school. Establish the experience you’re
hoping for, and how this corresponds to optimizing your personal potential to
succeed (and perhaps to help others succeed).
2. Now explain why certain opportunities at Duke afford you the ability to not just
experience these things, but quite possibly the best version of them. If you can
indicate contrasts to other schools, do it. If it’s just highlighting something
unique to Duke, do it. As always, relate each example back to something you
specifically need, and be very specific about the ways in which you are going to
engage.
3. Lastly, see if you can somehow explain where this sense came from. Give us a
taste of the research, the “due diligence” that led to your conclusions. This is also
the section where you may wanna “fumble” around those inexplicable reasons
that are emotional at their core. Let us see the genuine-ness of your words here.

Organization-wise, it doesn’t necessarily need to follow that order. And to be sure, what
we’re calling “Section 3” here is truly something that should be interwoven through the
essay. But separating it out this way may at least give you a target for your V1.
 30

HARVARD (HBS)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 31

HARVARD (HBS)
HBS Essay 1

As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider
your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program? (There is no word limit
for this question. We think you know what guidance we’re going to give here. Don’t
overthink, overcraft and overwrite. Just answer the question in clear language that
those of us who don’t know your world can understand.)

Interesting. Stanford seems to have dialed in something that’s working, but Harvard is
either experiencing a midlife crisis, or is so content, they’re switching things up just for
laughs. (Probably the latter, neither school is exactly hurting for demand.) But alas, HBS
has tweaked its main business school application essay yet again. This time, they’re
lifting the word limit altogether. But are they really? Let’s start there.

“There is no word limit for this question.” Yeah, there is actually. Maybe not a hard
number, but there is such a thing as a reasonable amount of space it takes for someone
to communicate something that would move the admissions needle. Use past word
limits as reference. Generally, HBS essays have ranged from 400-750 words. Honestly,
for a totally prompt-less prompt like this one, our recommendation is to land
somewhere between 400-600 words. Much less and maybe you’re wasting an
opportunity. Much more and you’re likely expending words that other folks don’t need
to expend – and that makes YOU look bad.

Now then, we have our made-up target of roughly 400 or 500 words (think 600 as max).
What exactly do we talk about? Let’s zoom out a touch and consider your overall
application. On a scale of 0 to “President of the Galaxy” … how would you score yourself
on leadership? If on the basis of your resume and LORs and all other aspects of your
application alone, your leadership is plain, and mighty, then your need to make a point
of it here in the essay may be less aggressive than the next guy we’re gonna talk about.
Imagine a candidate who IS a born leader, but may not have the kind of resume where
such traits LEAP off the page as readily as that first guy. In this case, you’d wanna lean
heavily on anything and everything that helps to MAKE that quality plain to HBS. Zip
forward to the end point for BOTH example candidates. The goal is for the adcom to
conclude that EACH of those two candidates is “high” on HBS-style leadership. “Check!”

Let’s go back to Candidate 1. Military guy, say, with leadership screaming from every
resume bullet. Maybe this guy/gal spends a touch more time revealing something
sparkly his/her personality or future aspirations that when COUPLED WITH the
 32

leadership that speaks for itself, makes the adcom hot and bothered. Candidate 2,
however, say, an IT guy from India who doesn’t appear to have quite as much in the
way of leadership experience, may want to focus less on future aspirations and more
on “oh and by the way, after you read this, you can stand me next to that military
general and see that, in fact, we have a bunch more in common in the way of
leadership than might have been evident on my resume. Aren’t you glad I told you that
story here?” See the difference? Similar end point, but the paths might be a touch
different.

HBS = leadership. If you can prove that you have future CEO, boss, leader, big and
badass mover-shaker flowing through your blood, you will be considered strongly.
Think about it for a second, though, because this is gonna circle back to the word limit
issue. If someone tells you they’re a lawyer, do you believe them? Probably. Why not? If
someone tells you they’re a school teacher, do you believe them? Yeah, why not. If, on
the other hand, someone tells you they’re funny… do you believe them? Probably not,
they need to make you laugh. In other words, you need proof. Leadership (like
funniness) is a quality, not a profession. You can’t just say it and expect others to buy
in. At the same time, it’s one of those things where… the more you say, the less likely it
may seem to be true. (Hence, 400-500 words = enough.) So, if you’re gonna demonstrate
your leadership chops through an anecdote, remember to focus on the types of actions
that we can picture. The actions that reveal your particular leadership style, and talent.

So that’s just some general background. How do you begin to answer this HBS prompt?
Work backwards. The adcom should conclude after reading your essay, in context with
all other aspects of your application that they have, that if introduced to the HBS
community, you would help others to succeed, and you would benefit from others and
succeed in kind. This is gonna sound frustrating, but, there’s a vapor that comes off of
the future “HBS admit” essay that is characterized by one word: confidence. You’re not
gonna get admitted to Harvard Business School to LEARN how to become a “manager.”
You’re admitted because you’re ALREADY a manager, and HBS is gonna help you grow
it.

So, posture that way. As you write drafts, and this may melt some brains out there,
posture as though you need Harvard to prove why they are YOUR best choice, not the
other way around. Posture like you expect admits from Stanford and Wharton and
Booth and Sloan and wherever else, and that you’re not so stuck on brand names,
you’re looking for a place that’s gonna be best for you to develop the talent you know
you have. How does that posturing subtly affect your tone? Or your approach?

You guys and gals are businessmen and businesswomen right? When negotiating, do
you ever prematurely show your hand and reveal just how badly you need the deal? Or
 33

is it stronger to posture the other way? “Here’s my final offer, I’m happy to walk away
because… I already have many others.” You can be sure that that exact same deal
weighs more than the one coming from the guy who seems desperate. So, embrace
your inner badass. And be a little cocky. Be a little presumptuous. Be a little smug. (We
can always dial it back to the perfect balance… but, no born leaders come to this
particular game vulnerable, meek, shy, etc.) Puff your chest. And begin drafting your
essay with the mentality that you already have Stanford’s “yes” in hand, and now
you’re gonna kick an application over to Harvard for fun, but… YOU are the one in high
demand, not the other way around.
 34

INSEAD

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 35

INSEAD
Job Essay 1

Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work,
major responsibilities, and where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of
budget, clients/products and results achieved.

Okay folks, no real need to be creative here, or dramatic, or “interesting.” Why say that?
Because if you attempt it, it may come across as an insecurity. You’re the guy who
doesn’t understand when straightforward is actually a show of strength.

Be brief, straightforward, and get into the details…fast. One way of looking at this is
simply to flesh out (somewhat) your latest entry on your resume. Just, turn it into a
readable paragraph so that anyone reading it can understand exactly where you work,
exactly what it is you do, and exactly what your accomplishments mean (i.e., you’ve
given us enough context to be able to make sense of them). And that’s all, folks. Aim for
250 words.

Job Essay 2

What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same
company?

Assume for a minute that you are going to STAY at your current place of work for the
next twenty years (just pretend). Presumably, you’ll rise in the ranks in SOME capacity.
Even if you’re the CEO of a start-up, your position will evolve somehow as your
company grows. Imagine that spectrum between today and 20 years from now sub-
divided into five major bumps. What’s the very next one? Explain the bump in terms of
what is it you do/oversee today and how it will CHANGE once you’re promoted or rise in
the ranks some other way.

All we’re trying to do is understand where you are in life. That’s it. No need to explain
that you truly want to do something else; we’re just getting our bearings. Aim for 250
words.

Job Essay 3
 36

Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe
your career path with the rationale behind your choices.

This is where it starts to get real. Whereas the first few can be extremely devoid of
“carefully chosen words,” here, you need to express ideas clearly, and compellingly.
…and this is gonna take some thought.

Start by explaining the context behind your very first post-graduate decision, by way of
some overarching goal — as clear or as nebulous as it may have been. Given that you
one-day wanted to X, you decided to pursue Y as your first official move after
university. Explain your developments, skills gained, ways in which you advanced your
career interests (or gained clarity on what it was you truly wanted to do), and let that
guide your description of whatever major thing happened next. Presumably, you were
promoted, or you chose another job, or you chose another industry, or a life
circumstance spun things in a new direction, etc. Whatever it is, keep in mind that this
is all part of a single narrative that connects each juncture along a single spectrum
that takes us from the first job after university to wherever you are today, with your
decision-making as your rudder at each key moment. We should be able to read this
essay and then repeat back not just what the steps were of your career, but why you
made your choices at each step. Aim for 300-400 words.

Job Essay 4

Discuss your short and long term career aspirations with or without an MBA from
INSEAD.

So, tempting as it may be to address the ‘with or without’ MBA piece, leapfrog to the
post-MBA stage, when you’re putting it all into motion, attacking your ST goals. Before
you get into the nitty gritty of your short term goal choices, give us a frame by painting
a (quick) picture of your LT goals. This will help us understand what it is you’re
ultimately aiming for, and thus, your logic for your short-term steps will have more
impact.

Focus on the things you’re hoping to achieve at each critical stage (there should be
around three key moments along your journey – some will require more, some less).
Each stage should feel absolutely necessary in order for the next one to be a possibility.
There must be logic connecting the dots. THIS is where you can show off your business
brain. How measured is your plan? How researched are you? Is it too fragile? Does it
seem likely to happen? What if things don’t go your way; does your approach seem to
suggest that you have a Plan B? On the surface, you’re just explaining us the pieces of
the pathway, but underneath, if you’re doing it right, you’re selling us on this plan as
 37

though it were a BUSINESS plan. Make us believe that your “idea” and “plan” are
bulletproof, and that you are the guy who’s gonna make it happen. Aim for 300 words
or so.

Optional Job Essay: If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current
employer more than 2 months before the programme starts, please explain your
activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the programme.
Only answer if this one if it applies to you. If you’re explaining the “not working” aspect,
be extremely straightforward. The more it seems like you’re justifying something, the
“guiltier” you’ll come across. Imagine you’re re-assuring the person who just hired you
why there’s this strange gap that we just noticed. Before we get cold feet, make that
feeling go away quickly, with extreme confidence, clarity, and brevity.

If you’re answering the other option, CREATING a gap (whether by choice or not) that
gives you the ability to spend your time somehow before the program begins, you’ll
want to approach it similarly, but this time, you may need to add a touch of
justification, lest it arouse suspicion. Say, for example, that gap is six months, and there
doesn’t seem to be any real reason for it. Here, you may have decided to travel the
world, or learn a new language, or… you get the idea. Just about anything CAN be an
amazing reason, we just need to be sold on it, is all. Brevity here is your best best best
friend. A long optional essay can be a death sentence. Stay crisp, aim for 150-250 words.

Motivation Essay 1

Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal
characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors
which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary
(approximately 500 words).

This has been an INSEAD staple for a few years now. The only real change here is in
word count. Now, the one thing they haven’t done here, which they should have, is to
distinguish between a passive description and an active one. A passive description just
tells you about something, and it ends there. “The ink stain is permanent.” “This coffee
is very hot.” Thanks, but we don’t want passive. We want that other thing — the
description that teaches us something. Makes us develop an ATTITUDE about the
subject.

“The ink stain is permanent, and it’s a good thing—I don’t ever want to forget the day
the woman I fell in love with haplessly broke the cartridge over my white shirt. Crazy
as it may sound, this blemish is a living monument of her innocence.”
 38

Oh, so… the ink stain being permanent here was a GOOD thing! Hah! Without that
context, we had no idea. Context, folks. Your job here is to describe yourself… with
context. Give us a reason to learn something about you. Adjectives by themselves are
meaningless.

How can you figure out WHICH characteristics give you your color? Have contributed
to your personal development? Make you… you? (And not just “you” but… interesting,
compelling, worth meeting, etc.)? That’s the hard part, isn’t it. Here are some tips to help:

1. Has there been a moment in your life where you experienced a fundamental
SHIFT in thinking? And we’re not talking about switching from Coke to Pepsi,
but rather, an EPIC shift in worldview?
2. Was there ever a moment where you acted in a way that was truly SURPRISING
to others? And even to yourself? Where you went against the grain?
3. Was there ever a moment that challenged you to your core? Requiring
considerable strength or courage to overcome?

Defining moments that taught you something about what you were made of… really
made of. Strengths and weaknesses are fair game here. Acknowledging weakness can
be a sign of GREAT strength, and can be extraordinarily appealing. The guy who can
introspect like that probably cares about improving. That’s the guy I want on my team,
not the guy who is comfortable with finding himself to be flawless, beyond reproach,
etc. Don’t shy away from this, if you have a neat weakness to talk about. Humility
(especially in Europe) can go a long way.

Outlines for this essay can take many shapes and forms. But consider hitting these
pieces in whatever you end up with:

• Provide examples of the traits. In fact, walk us through an action that

DEMONSTRATES the trait over merely telling us about it.
• But then, make sure you give a reason we should care—this is the “context” we
alluded to above. So what, the ink stain is permanent. Give us the VALUE.
 39

Motivation Essay 2

Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition,
describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your
relationships with others? Comment on what you learned(approximately 400 words).

400 words for both essays tell you something, because there are a lot of components to
this one. Let’s break it down:

1. Explain your top-most achievement (what it was, why should we impressed)

2. Then, explain why this ranks highest among all your achievements
3. Next explain a key failure (what it was, exactly)
4. Then, explain the ways in which these experiences impacted your relationship
with other people (this is a twist – very few schools ask about this specifically)
5. What were YOUR lessons?

Those all need to be dealt with, and you have 400 words. So, be straightforward, folks.
It’s actually a great exercise in high-yield communication. Let’s focus on #4 though.
How does a success or failure leave some kind of imprint on the way in which you
relate to others? This is where you need to paint by clear examples. Imagine DELTAs
between each scenario. There was a before and after associated with your success
story. Somehow, that success affected the way you related to people – thus, the delta
between before and after. What was it? Similarly, before you failed, you related to
people in some way. Then after that failure, things changed with respect to your
relationships with others. What changed? Examining those DELTAs will be the first
KEY step toward crushing this question, and demonstrating how thoughtful and
strategic you can be.

Motivation Essay 3

Describe all types of extra-professional activities in which you have been or are still
involved for a significant amount of time (clubs, sports, music, arts, politics, etc). How
are you enriched by these activities? (approximately 300 words).

Part I of this essay will be all about the stuff, and a very clear indication of how
involved you are. Leadership roles, special awards and distinctions, etc. Anything that
gives us a clue about how excited you are about any particular activity, is good. Part II
is about the way in which any given activity has made you… cooler. “Enriched” you.
Again, we return to the concept of deltas. Picture what you’d be like without the
activity, or all of them. How different would you be? What qualities, therefore, do those
 40

activities nurture in you? This doesn’t have to be separated into Part I – Activities, Part
2 – Enrichment. They can be integrated as you’re going through each activity.

Don’t leave your passion out here. Straightforward, yes, but… if your extracurricular
activities seem to be part of a checklist routine, you’re not gonna excite anyone. The
idea here is to come across like a sparkplug. Someone dynamic with interests and
hobbies and talents and THIRSTS for things. The awareness that is revealed through
articulating just how each activity has improved you in some way is icing on top.
 41

LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL (LBS)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 42

LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL (LBS)

What are your post-MBA goals and how will your prior experience and the London
Business School programme contribute towards these? (500 words).

This is more or less the exact same question as last year. And if you were to look at the
2014 version of this question (“What will your future look like after completing your
MBA?”) and compare it to these slightly tweaked versions (“What are your post-MBA
plans and how will your prior experience and the London Business School programme
contribute?”), it’s not hard to catch the vapors coming off of the LBS adcom:
“Let’s just ask the question we wanna ask a bit more directly…”

What does this mean for you as the applicant? Give them what they want: a clear,
precise, well-argued case for what you hope to succeed in, and why you will be
successful (based on your past experiences combined with an LBS MBA). That’s all,
folks. If you accomplish those two things, everything extra (“a novel idea,” “a big goal
with big upside,” “a socially-responsible and inspiring vision,” etc.) will be just that…
“extra.”

Most people will miss the KEY to this essay, by packing too much stuff in. Slow down,
take it one simple step at a time, and get the key stuff NAILED down first (you’ll be 98%
done at that point).

Now, here’s the danger of going too far with Part I of the question (the GOAL part)
without considering how Part II supports it. If you pitch an incredible idea/vision for the
future, but have limited ability to back it up with evidence in your past experiences that
convinces us that you have the necessary chops to execute on that idea… the idea may
sound tasty, but it won’t be worth the risk for an elite MBA program. Remember, elite
MBA programs rely on PLACEMENT statistics. Things like “how many students from
the graduating class end up… employed” end up making XXX dollars in their first X
years out of school, etc. Why? This affects their rankings, and rankings affect the
caliber of student drawn to their program, which in turn affects the school’s ability to
churn out success stories that juice those stats that then improve rankings and the
future caliber of… you see how the cycle works.

So, MBA programs prefer SURE THINGS to high-volatility applicants. Given all that, the
best chance you have of proving future success is to point to evidence in your PAST of
success in a similar arena. Now, typically this means success in ROLE and INDUSTRY X
and then pitching future success that is essentially an EXTENSION of those two things.
If you’re a marketing maven, then you may have a hard time painting a picture of
 43

yourself as a logistics whiz. “Why should we believe that you will be successful here?”
they will ask. This is why industry/career switches tend to be red flags, unless you’re
able to convincingly draw a crystal clear connection between your success in the past
and your future goals.

Start there: looking back at your career, what have you done? What have you
achieved? What are you good at? What MAKES you good at the things you’re good at?
Isolate it, hone in, be able to describe this to someone in ONE sentence. “I’m the guy
who can mobilize a team of 50 people on ten continents.” “I’m the gal who can take ten
departments’ confused and contradictory initiatives, and seamlessly cohere them into
a winning, universally beneficial, perfectly aligned strategy.” “I’m the person who…”
Find evidence in your past. Be messy at first, list ten chaotic forms of support. But then
sharpen it, boil it down to three defining MOMENTS. Three episodes, where your actions
PAINT A PICTURE of the value you brought.

Once you have that piece LOCKED, now we can cook up a “plan” that is a mouth-
watering EXTENSION of it. Now we’re willing to go wherever you take us. If you’re Elon
Musk, and you give us your resume, you better believe we will be interested when you
tell us “I have an idea for how to revolutionize public transportation in third world
countries.” If your background is in sales, however, we’re less interested in your Big
Idea.

As you’re building your “post-MBA plans,” focus less on the flash of the idea, and more
on the strategy behind EXECUTING it. Show us how well-thought-out the plan is. Do
this with detail. Do this with evidence that walks us through how each step is
necessary for the next one. Practical, pragmatic, bulletproof. This is the plan that
excites MBA adcoms. You want them to say “this guy is gonna be successful.” Or “this
guy has success written all over him.”

You don’t want them to say “Wow, this is an absolutely brilliant and inspired idea! … I’m
just not entirely sure he’s gonna pull it off.” That reaction is potentially a death
sentence.

Here’s the structure that’ll keep you very safe for your first pass:

1. Hit us with a high-level sense of what kind of ISSUE or PROBLEM you hope to
fix. Or an OPPORTUNITY you’re hoping to take advantage of. Quickly provide
this background (sentence or two, max). Explain why solving this (or executing
on the opportunity) isn’t easy. Explain why this hasn’t been done a million times
successfully already. Then explain (super high-level) what your idea is. What
your big picture plans are.
 44

2. Now take us through the story of how this all came into play. What’s the
backstory? Where did you start, where did you cut your teeth? And most
importantly, show us the evidence as you take us through the KEY NODES of
your past, of your value. Don’t just rehash your resume. Present value-defining
ACTIONS that made it very clear what made/makes you valuable.
3. Now that we’re sold on how credible you are in this arena, give us a more
detailed walk-through of your plans, showing us exactly how you plan on
achieving each step. Details, specificity, show us how much thought went into it
by convincing us that there are no holes.
4. Last but not least, spend just a little bit of time making an argument for why
LBS of all the business schools on Earth provides a few UNIQUE opportunities to
propel you toward success. Don’t explain that it’s a good B-School, or that you’re
interested in LBS. You need to isolate just a few idiosyncrasies of the LBS
offerings/class/setup that somehow IMPROVES the probability that you will
succeed as compared to, say, HBS, Stanford, or Wharton. The coolest test to give
yourself (embrace this conceit!) is to imagine getting offer letters from Harvard,
Stanford, Wharton and LBS. Make a case for why you would TURN DOWN the
other three and go with LBS. All it takes is two or three bulletproof reasons and
you’re home free.
 45

MIT (SLOAN)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 46

MIT (SLOAN)
MIT Application Cover Letter

Please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Your letter
should conform to a standard business correspondence and be addressed to Mr. Rod
Garcia, Senior Director of Admissions. (250 words or fewer)

Incredibly bold. A return to the good old days! We’ve been around long enough to
recognize this as a reissue of the classic and very Sloan-specific “Cover Letter” essay
question. They took a mistress, had their walk on the wild side, but are now
RETURNING to the high school sweetheart they left curbside. It implies that their ability
to screen prospective candidates was better using this approach than through their
flirtation with more traditional essay prompts. Let’s dig in, and figure out why.

Before we look at how to build it up, what’s the purpose of a cover letter to begin with?
(We’re talking about actual cover letters that most employers require – alongside
resumes – when recruiting new talent for their businesses.) Whereas the resume is
kind of like a list of ingredients to a recipe that may give clues to the quality and
promise of what the food itself might taste like, the cover letter is more like a sample
BITE of the actual food. If that bite tastes promising, and the ingredients look to be of a
high quality, we will likely develop a STRONG desire for the whole thing. That’s the
purpose anyway.

Now then, what are the elements that make a great cover letter? What does a cover
letter need to have in order to elicit that desired reaction? For most employers, it’s
usually a combination of the following:

A well-articulated fit between candidate and company. Beyond the self-evident

positive, it indicates a level of engagement that can say a lot about the candidate
(especially when compared to other cover letters).

Evidence of relevant background experience. As an employer, I want to see evidence

that you (job applicant) have done something in your past that not only qualifies you
for the open position, but gives me reason to believe you may excel (at all, sure, but
especially when compared to the others… {starting to notice a theme here?}).
 47

Confidence. If you can make it so that I end up wanting you more than you want me,
congrats… you just won. How do you pull that off? See you at the next – and final –
bullet…

Swagger/Sparkle. Don’t be boring. If you seem like someone who is qualified AND
someone I’d love to meet, you just won. Do not shy away from letting your personality
bleed into the lines. This is less so with your resume (you have a few opportunities
there for sure, but only a few). Make me smirk. Make me wonder what you’re like in
person. Make it easy for me to picture you leading a team.

How is the MIT cover letter essay different from a “job application cover letter”? Let’s
have a look:

Key Ingredients of The MIT Sloan Cover Letter Essay

Fit between you and MIT. (Alternatively “Why Sloan”?) At some point, you will wanna
make some kind of indication why Sloan is particularly appealing to you.

Why an MBA? Your goals may sound great. And your experience may sound great. So
great that they beg the question… well, why not just GO GET EM TIGER? Why bother
with an MBA? Convince us you need one. (It’ll make us wanna set you up at our
program that much more.)

What are you pursuing? Maybe it’s a specific career goal that is an extension of what
you’ve been up to recently. But maybe it’s a switch from where you are now. Maybe it’s
somewhere in between. Think of yourself as a juggernaut headed somewhere with
considerable force… where to? Help us picture it.

What are you awesome at? I need a taste. Show me a glimpse into something you’ve
done, or an experience that captures what it is about you that will make it easy for me
to imagine success in your future. Is the best story the one that walks us through how
you got yourself out of a hole? Is it about the time you created an insane amount of
impact somewhere? Is it about your ability to lead people through a complex problem?
Or lead a complex group of people through an ordinary problem? Whatever it is, make
me read it and “see” your talent.

Do I want to meet you? Give me a reason to want to meet the author. Make me smile.
Make me feel inspired. Make me feel intrigued… somehow. Maybe it’s through a
teaspoon of wit. Maybe it’s through a deeply personal rationale for “Why Sloan.” Maybe
it’s through something highly unusual about your story. Whatever it is… just make sure
it’s there.
 48

Putting It All Together

Now we have a basic set of elements (it’s not exhaustive, and it doesn’t apply to 100% of
applicants, but it’ll be good enough to get most of you out of trouble). And we also have
some insights into what these suckers are meant to accomplish. How should we
structure it then? While there isn’t (and shouldn’t be) a single formula to govern all
cases, here is a guideline to at least get you headed in a decent direction, which we can
always hone.

Section 1 (Part 1) – Your opening line – We’re not (all) particular fans of the stock “It is
with great enthusiasm that I apply for the…” or “I am writing to apply for the entering
class of MBA blah…” or some other variation. While it is sometimes acceptable and even
preferable, it is at least worth exploring a different entry. Here are some ideas:

Establish the problem you want to solve. “Would you be surprised that the
percentage of potable water in public fountains in the city of London was below
64%?” (Made that up, but if it made you furrow your brow, then it worked? You
may have a version, too. Try it.)
Pose a question. “What if an iPhone app stood between a literacy rate of 7% and
70% in the rural parts of war-torn Africa?” Again, just made up numbers, but
maybe it piques your curiosity. Do you have a version that can elicit a similar
reaction?
State something … boldly. “Within 24 hours, I increased the bottom line of a
boutique fashion retailer by 6%. One week later, that number quadrupled.”
(Makes you wonder… how? Who is this kid? What is he talking about?)

Section 1 (Part 2) “The remainder.” Your opening paragraph, however you start it,
should be short. Very short. 50-75 words. Give us a taste, either of the problem, why
you’re some kind of wunderkind, an unbelievably tasty vision… something. Then you
can give us that standard “The only thing standing between me and that world is an
MBA from a top school, and that’s why I’m applying to Sloan.” (That idea, anyway.)
Paragraph 1, licked.

Section 2 – Where are you headed? What makes you awesome? Where does that
awesomeness stop and therefore why do you need an MBA? For your next paragraph
(or two), you will want to hit some version of all that stuff. That’s a decent order right
there, but if your particular story requires some shuffling, go for it. There is always
time for reshuffling in search of a more effective organization – your goal now is to get
the meaty content down. Total word count here should be around 100-150 words.
 49

Section 3 – This is generally the right moment to explain what it is about Sloan that will
make your chances for success HIGHER than anywhere else. If you’re a plant, why do
you think you will blossom and grow bigger, better, stronger HERE than anywhere
else? We should get the sense that if you were to get letters from Stanford or HBS you
might turn them down because of the reasoning delivered here. Just a few sentences,
you simply don’t have room for more. 50 words, maybe 75.

250 words “or fewer” means… don’t bust that count, otherwise they’d have kept it loose.
Keep it tight. If you’re stuck, or if you need an excuse to motor through a draft just to
get the rust off, use this analysis as a tool, and see how it looks. You should end up in a
place where you have some fabulous clay to REMOLD.

MIT Application Resume

Please submit a résumé that includes your employment history and academic record
in reverse chronological order. Other information appropriate to a business resume is
welcomed and encouraged (no more than 1 page in length).

Résumés are not new to business school applications. And there’s nothing here that
should force a departure from the résumé you’re going to build (and perfect) and
submit to all your target programs. You’ve heard us give lectures on this and we’ve
written guides on it… the fact that MIT has explained how a résumé should look just
proves how easy it is to SCREW UP! Anyway, let’s just go through a few highlights:

· 1 Page. Next!
· Reverse Chronological Order means Most Recent First. In other words, “What
have you done for me lately.” For work experience, tell us where you are NOW,
then below it, the previous experience, and so on. Same with Academic record.
(As far as order of these categories, we suggest Employment first and Academic
second.)
· “Other information” – What could this mean? Well, it can be a bunch of stuff.
Generally, it can be any of the following:

Community Service/Volunteering – Are you giving back? Great, show us where

and how, and make it evident that it comes from a genuine place (through
consistency, and obvious follow-through).

Awards/Distinctions – Earn some amazing stuff? Tell us about it! Blow our
minds.
 50

Hobbies/Interests/Something-Awesome-That-Makes-Us-Intrigued! – This is
an opportunity for you to say something cheeky, or reveal a quirk, or add some
dimensionality to your profile. Take advantage!

Check out our résumé guide though. We dig ultra deep and it’s all there. Résumé
writing is a complex art. The end result looks fairly simple and straightforward, but
getting there is hard (and tedious) work…

Additional Information (Optional) Essay

The Admissions Committee invites you to share additional information about

yourself, in any format. If you choose a multimedia format, please host the information
on a website and provide us with the URL.
Suggested guidelines:

• Please keep all videos and media limited to 2:00 minutes total in length.
• Please keep all written essays to 500 words or less.
• If hosting your submission on a website, please ensure you provide an
unprotected link (no password required).

Ordinarily, we recommend shying away from the optional essay unless you have a red
flag worth explaining away, a blip that needs smoothing, or a really compelling reason
to lob something else in that simply didn’t get airtime anywhere else (and must).

Here, however, we WOULD recommend taking advantage of this opportunity. Most

applicants WILL take a stab at something here… do you want to be the guy that didn’t?
Sure it says optional, but… this one’s a little more open-ended. And it kind of feels like
they want to see who’s going to lunge at the opportunity.

So, you’re going to go for it. What should you do exactly? Well, you’ll want to work
backwards from understanding precisely what makes you irresistible to an elite
business school. This is going to VARY from individual to individual:

• For some, it may be some insane story from your background that promises
“more where that came from” that may make for a tasty addition to ANY
business school classroom.
• For some, it may be an incredible work-related anecdote that communicates
something incredibly compelling about what makes you BRIMMING with
potential and talent.
 51

• For some, it may be a NON-work-related anecdote that brings a nice

counterpoint to a theme covered by the rest of your application. Say you’re a
military guy, or a banker-type… maybe you have a story from your personal life
(or simply non-work-related life) that adds complexity or dimension to the
portrait painted by that other stuff. (That “complexity” can’t just be “complexity
for complexity sake.” It needs to further convince us that your potential for
success is that much more bankable.
• For some, it may just be that you’re unbelievably frickin’ compelling “in person.”
Witty, charming, a great story-teller, something that makes us see “winner”
“leader” “doer” “achiever” “sparkplug.”
• For some, it may be a deeper pitch for an incredible idea that reveals just how
great a business mind you have.
• For some, it may be a FAILURE story that convinces us just how much
STRONGER you are as a result, and how much more likely you are (therefore) to
succeed at your goals.

It can be… a lot of stuff. Find out what your greatest hits are, then look at where your
cover letter and resume end up. If that were ALL the adcom got to see, what would you
feel was MISSING from that package? What key thing did the adcoms NOT get to see?
Identify a few, pick the strongest one (even if it’s personality-related) and then ideate
based on that.
 52

NORTHWESTERN (KELLOGG)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 53

NORTHWESTERN (KELLOGG)
Kellogg MBA Essay 1

Leadership and teamwork are integral parts of the Kellogg experience. Describe a
recent and meaningful time you were a leader. What challenges did you face, and what
did you learn? (450 words).

If your response doesn’t somehow address teamwork, or the art form of working with
others, or collaboration, you’ve missed something vital. Why else would they mention
teamwork at all? Now, here’s where you wanna avoid an amateur mistake when
picking the best story. Don’t think about your best “teamwork” story. Instead, pick your
absolute best LEADERSHIP story. The one that casts you in the most impressive light,
period. Now, just to make a point, imagine we challenged you to take that exact story
and turn it into a story about FAILURE. Could you do it? The answer is yes. You just
need to recast it somewhat. Same story, but different angle. If that’s your goal (to talk
about some way in which you failed), all you need to do is rejigger the outcome, and the
rest will take care of itself. If we challenged you to turn this exact story into one about
discovering something about yourself, just say abracadabra, and, poof, you should be
able to recast the exact same story to turn into “the moment you realized you were
destined for X” or “the time you discovered you did not have the heart for X but you DID
for Y.” See where we’re headed here? Using your best leadership story, find the angle
that puts the TEAMWORK challenges front and center. This may lead to a slightly
different “version” of this story, but that’s the version that’s gonna sell here.

Try to frame the challenges around people-related issues. Ignore the other stuff. If, for
example, the success or failure of your story rests on your ability to deliver an
incredible pitch… ignore that aspect. Instead, talk about the drink you shared with one
of the board members the night before, where you connected on a personal level. If
your story rests on your ability to have sharp financial insights (you and you alone),
ignore THAT aspect, and instead focus on the part where you trained your junior
colleagues to help prep the financials in a way that allowed you to excel. Talk about
how giving them a higher bar to pursue as a team allowed them to gel in a way that
improved the entire unit, etc. You get the idea. Shift the focus away from you and how
smart you are, and onto any aspect that highlights people-challenges. Collaboration.
Team gelling. Morale-boosting. The power of many over one. All that stuff. If your
leadership story doesn’t have a single “team” element, find the next best leadership
story and dig. You shouldn’t have to, by the way. Chances are, a story that fails this test
 54

isn’t a leadership story so much as a success story. Leadership and teamwork tend to
go hand-in-hand. Kellogg is all about that idea. Show them that you are too.

Structure:

First, frame the challenge, and do so in a way that highlights “team-related” issues. See
if you can hinge the success or failure of this particular story around your ability to
masterfully execute some team-related thing, as opposed to “growing the business by
150%” or “improving X by Y percent.” Focus it around people challenges. Establish the
stakes, what happened if it didn’t work? Why was it so important to succeed?
Next, walk us through your actions. And equally important, your reasoning behind
each one. This is where you demonstrate a key understanding of what makes others
tick, and it can ALSO be an opportunity to reveal what makes you tick. Don’t be afraid
to expose faulty reasoning on occasion. Missteps, bad calls. As long as you gained
insights and eventually improved, you’re gonna shine like a star. Focus on what you
did, and why.

Finally, explain why it worked, in a way that taught you something about humans and
how they relate, and the value of collaboration or of understanding other people, or of
combining skills rather than pinning objectives on the abilities of an individual. Be
straightforward and confident here. The confident leader guy who talks about
teamwork is much more compelling than the hippie “let’s hold hands around a
campfire and sing Kumbaya” guy who also talks about teamwork.

Kellogg MBA Essay 2

Pursuing an MBA is a catalyst for personal and professional growth. How have you
grown in the past? How do you intend to grow at Kellogg? (450 words)
Let’s talk about two things here.

First what is growth?

And second, how to relate this to Kellogg?

Growth. Growth is all about change from X to Y. Consider a plant. If a plant is in a

certain environment, subjected to certain external pressures and conditions, it will
experience a fundamental change we call “growth.” It may lengthen. It may produce
flowers. Whatever it is, there’s some kind of DELTA between the before and after. Easy
enough to understand right?
 55

Okay, but let’s dig into it a bit more. What actually caused that growth? Was it the DNA
of the plant? Or was it the conditions it was exposed to? Well, it can’t JUST be the DNA. If
that were true, you could plant evergreen trees in the middle of the Sahara desert and
they’d do just fine right? Wrong. The DNA is a terrible match for the harsh, arid
environment of the desert. So, DNA alone doesn’t ensure growth. Likewise, conditions
are only as effective as the “DNA” of the thing they’re influencing. Reverse it. Apply rain
to coniferous trees and they love it. Apply the same rain to succulents, and it’s lights
out. We’ve just applied the wrong “environment” to the DNA.

Conclusion: it has to be a match of (1) the inherent characteristics of the element, AND
(2) the conditions of its environment. This is a key concept as you consider your own
growth stories. First, you have to talk about growth in terms of a clear before and after.
But also, you must address what the environment was, and how it influenced “your
DNA.” In order to do this well, you need show a clear understanding of what you’re
made of, and how that particular environment helped to shape it.

Now, you need to airlift that formula and apply it to something you detect about
Kellogg. What is it about the Kellogg environment that holds promise for you that you
will grow in a similar way? What is about their culture, or a specific aspect of their
curriculum, or some other Kellogg-specific thing that is going to exert a force on you
that encourages personal growth? The only way you can predict this is if you have a
story in your past that shows how you respond to certain stimuli, that you can then
connect to something at Kellogg that therefore holds the same promise for you.

Structure:

First, walk us through a “growth” story. Paint a clear before and a clear after, and
explain how the ENVIRONMENT acted to help SHAPE that transformation from A to B.
Hover on the environmental aspect, focus on the stuff that helped bring about that
change. What were those external influences? How did they inspire you to grow?
Now, identify specific aspects of Kellogg that resemble those “conditions.” Be careful,
the stuff you pick can’t apply equally well to other schools, or else your point won’t
weigh anything. It has to be Kellogg specific. Now explain the parallel to how these
conditions are the exact conditions that promote personal growth in you. We’ll believe
you because you’ve already PROVEN this in section 1.
 56

NYU (STERN)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 57

NYU (STERN)
NYU Stern Essay 1 – Professional Aspirations

(750 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)

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

We love it when b-schools splinter questions into bite-sized chunks, helps you from
going off the rails. Before we rip into it, let’s take a close look at the two words in the
NYU Stern MBA Essay prompt above: “Professional Aspirations.” Let’s see through this
to figure what they really mean here. As we’ve said countless times before, don’t get
trapped by the idea that the “best” aspirations are gonna win this game. An aspiration is
only as compelling as the likelihood that it will COME TO FRUITION. Here’s an
exaggeration to illustrate a point:

Here’s my aspiration: solve world hunger, establish world peace, implement a perfect
corruption-free form of government, make literate those who are illiterate, and lose ten
pounds and get ripped, all in one day. Beat that for a goal. The problem here is obvious.
While the goal may be lovely, what are anyone’s chances of actually pulling it off? Nil.
Are there points for idealism? Maybe. But not in a b-school essay. We need pragmatism
over idealism. Accomplishable goals. Goals that are measured, intelligent, and thought-
through. This doesn’t mean safe necessarily, but the author of these goals must seem
level-headed, and likely to achieve what he sets out to achieve. THAT is what we need
to glean from your “personal aspirations.”

Just to hammer it home… it isn’t the aspiration, it’s the argument you make that
convinces us that you’re gonna be successful—possibly at this stated goal, but more
like, at ANYTHING you set your mind to. You’re gonna “be successful.” You’re gonna get
the job ahead of your competitor. That’s attractive to a b-school. Bankability. With that
in mind, let’s dig in.

(a) Why pursue an MBA (or dual degree) at this point in your life?

Let’s simplify the hell out of this. Why aren’t you attacking your short-term goal…
RIGHT now? Why are you wasting your time with a business school application?
 58

Shouldn’t you be pursuing the thing you’re about to write about a billion times over as
you lay out your grand vision for your short-term and long-term goals? Seriously, stop
for a moment and consider it. There’s no rule that says in order to be successful in the
world of business you MUST obtain an MBA. Plenty of people have been wildly
successful without one—you know the list. Scrap the MBA for a second; why aren’t you
applying for the job you’re eventually gonna talk about for your ST goal? There MUST
be a reason you can’t just do it now. Or, that it doesn’t make SENSE to do it now.
Articulate that sentence… and let your pen fly. The result will be a perfect starting point
to the answer here.

The MBA is weaker when it’s something you think you’ll need to better your lot in life. It
should instead feel like a critical means to an end. As soon as I get to the other side, I
can make it to Oz. The problem is, there’s a gap between these two cliffs on the order of
hundreds of feet. I can’t just run and jump and make it over there. And I can’t fly. I need
a bridge to carry me from here to there. The bridge is the MBA. “The other side” is the
path that takes you to the endgame. This is how we need to understand your current
position: the MBA should feel like a need, not an insurance policy.

(b) What actions have you taken to determine that Stern is the best fit for your MBA
experience?

Before we get to the “actions” piece, we’re gonna talk first about “fit.”
Not to sound harsh, but this is consistently the part that most people shank (especially
international students who have been fed wildly misleading information that name-
dropping and formulaic statements can demonstrate sincere interest in a program).
Let’s dispense with that notion right away—the mention of a class, or a professor, or the
listing of New York City’s well-known virtues will weigh a grand total of “zero” ounces…
without context; specifically, how any of those and other things will affect YOUR ability
to achieve your goals.

Think of business school as though it were… bamboo. Consider three students who
claim to need/want bamboo to help them somehow. Here’s the BAD way they can
explain “fit”:

“I want bamboo because it’s an incredibly cheap, fast-growing, and highly versatile
resource.”

Wonderful. This statement applies to every single student on Earth, and is as hollow as
the substance itself (“Boom!” as Jon Stewart might say). Let’s do it the right way:
 59

Student 1 – I need to feed a family of four and have very little money to spend
on imported foods. Bamboo is easy for me to obtain, and I can cook it and feed
my family and never have to worry about what happens the next day because
it grows so quickly.

Student 2 – I need to figure out a more cost effective way to provide clothing for
my village. Traditional textiles have become prohibitively expensive. Bamboo
provides an extremely sustainable and cost-effective solution.

Student 3 – I need to outfit an office building with new flooring, but due to
massive budget cuts, are no longer able to afford traditional hard wood material.
Cheaper alternatives, while affordable, are not durable. Bamboo floors are a
perfect solution: durable, inexpensive, and attractive.

What’s the pattern here? The same substance (bamboo) has been served a
COMPLETELY different purpose for each of these three students. The way that NYU
affects you should likewise be similarly distinctly different from how it affects the
NEXT applicant over. That should be your smell test—read your response here. If what
you’ve stated can EASILY apply to another candidate, you can dig deeper and get more
specific. Keep doing this over and over again, until it sounds like bamboo (i.e., NYU
Stern) was put on this earth by ‘god’ specifically for you and you alone.

But, let’s go back to NYU’s question about “steps you’ve taken.” As you’re explaining the
way Stern fits you like a glove, indicate the things you’ve done to discover these
attributes and opportunities. Read through their website, sure, but hasn’t everyone?
What else? Reached out to an alum, okay, but what else? How about visited the
campus? How about attended an info-session? How about met someone who went
there? How about studied the work of a former or current professor? What else? Are
you really serious about Stern? Or do you consider it a “safety” school? We need to be
convinced that you have found NYU to be something of a kindred spirit that has led to
deep, earnest research into the program.

(c) What do you see yourself doing professionally upon graduation?

Picture this. You’re being interviewed, and your interviewer ASKS you this exact
question, “What do you see yourself doing professionally upon graduation?” If you
pause for a second and say “Well, let’s see…” you’ve already kinda shanked it. Now
imagine this version: “What do you see yourself doing professionally upon graduation?”
You reach into your bag and pull out a binder and turn to Page 1 and say “Well, here, let
me show you the plan, I’ve got it mapped out right here.” Feel the difference? Sure, this
is (in fact) a theoretical question, speculation is assumed. That doesn’t mean you should
 60

come ACROSS like you’re speculating, however. Sureness here conveys thought. It
conveys momentum. It conveys planning. The guy with the incredibly immediate (and
detailed) response is the guy that’s likely to succeed, REGARDLESS OF HIS ACTUAL
PLAN. What we’re really after here is, “have you thought this through like a CHAMP?”

So. Whatever it is you see yourself doing upon graduation, make it sound inevitable
and highly achievable. If it feels like a long shot, it’s not gonna bode well. These guys
pay attention to their job placement statistics, because APPLICANTS CARE ABOUT
THOSE. Assure them that your goals are achievable. You can do this by making sure
they’re just that, achievable. But also by laying out in excruciating detail exactly how
it’s going to unfold, and why those steps make sense and are likely to happen. Proof,
detail, and the sense of inevitability are your closest allies here.

NYU Stern Essay 2 – Personal Expression

Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to
convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative.

(Please note the following guidelines and restrictions:

• Your submission becomes the property of NYU Stern and cannot be returned for
any reason.
• Written Submission: The essay should be 500 words maximum, double-spaced,
12-point font.
• Video/Audio Submission: If you submit a video or audio file, it should be five
minutes maximum, and the file should be uploaded to a video/audio hosting
website. You must include the URL, along with a brief description of the
video/audio piece, in a Word or PDF document with your online application. Do not
mail a USB or DVD to our office. The Admissions Committee reserves the right to
request an alternate essay if we are unable to view your submission.
• Physical Submission: If you submit a physical piece for this essay (e.g. artwork),
you must include a Word or PDF document with a photo and a brief description of
your submission with your online application and note the following:
o Do not submit anything perishable (e.g. food), or any item that has been
worn (e.g. clothing).
o Mailed materials must be postmarked by the application deadline date.
Please follow our mail and labeling instructions.
o Mailed packages are subject to the size restrictions below. Submissions
that exceed the stated size restrictions will not be accepted for review by
 61

the Admissions Committee. Candidates should also make sure to visit

Stern’s website to review the size restrictions for Essay 2.)

Doesn’t get much more open-ended than this, folks. Two things:

1. It’s not what you say, but how you say it. But be careful… this can easily be
misconstrued (and we’ll dig into that in a second).
2. Don’t get so caught up with the format and creativity of your delivery, that it
ends up overtaking what we’re supposed to conclude about YOU as a
candidate/person.

That’s a tricky balance to strike. And if you’re not careful, you can easily get twisted up
into a knot of doom. So let’s simplify it with a few rules.

Step #1 – Think about WHAT you wanna convey before you pick your medium.
“Function over form.” What about you needs to be passed along? What’s cool about
you? What’s surprising? What’s different? Whatever it is, the one thing it can’t be… is
“down the middle.”

Step #2 – Message is set. Awesome, now what. How to convey? Write a song? Tee up a
Powerpoint? Poem? Drawing? Flowchart? Comic strip? Infomercial? It can be anything.
Make sure whatever medium you choose, it makes sense over a more straightforward
one. In other words, imagine looking into a camera and just talking… is that much better
than writing a thoughtful essay response? Maybe, cuz they can see you… but, it’s not
really exploiting the medium. And the good responses here almost always do.

Not that you should AIM for this reaction, but if whatever you end up doing promotes
likeability, you’re doing something right. Likeability is hard to ignore. Likeability will
make someone find reasons why your sub-700 GMAT score may be good enough. And
why your comparatively lack of experience isn’t such a liability. If you’re not
particularly likeable, it can have the OPPOSITE effect. It can make a smoking hot GMAT
score all of a sudden feel like a number. “Who’s gonna wanna work with that guy?”
One last thing. Take a risk here, folks. Do not attempt something creative only to end up
with something that is fundamentally plain. This is a high-risk, high-reward play. Go
for it. Be bold. And if you’re over-reaching, tap someone smart and unafraid to tell you
so, and ask for an opinion. You will want someone who is not bashful here, because
creative work tends to be precious—and is very hard for even folks with your best
interest at heart to LAY into you with honest feedback.

(By the way, our analysis for McCombs applies here as well.)
 62

STANFORD (GSB)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 63

STANFORD (GSB)
Stanford Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?

For this essay, we would like you to:

• Do some deep self-examination, so you can genuinely illustrate who you are
and how you came to be the person you are.
• Share the insights, experiences, and lessons that shaped your perspectives,
rather than focusing merely on what you’ve done or accomplished.
• Write from the heart, and illustrate how a person, situation, or event has
influenced you.
• Focus on the “why” rather than the “what.”

This may be the hardest of all B-school essays to write, and to write well. Why?
Because it’s so open-ended. They haven’t just given you a hunk of clay and asked you
to mold it. They’ve given you canvas, paint, wood, sheet metal, circuit boards, copper
wire, and a hundred other elements and have asked you to “generate something awe-
inspiring.” While you’re painting a blue sky on your canvas paper, the guy in the station
next to you is creating a computer that can communicate with aliens. Intimidating.

What are others writing about!? What are the guys who are GETTING IN writing about?
Well, let’s start there—if that’s plaguing you, you’re asking the wrong question. It has
absolutely nothing to with WHAT others are writing about, but HOW they’re writing.
Don’t misunderstand us here; this isn’t about writing skill. B-school essays are never
about mastery of prose. The “how” here refers to the manner in which the successful
candidates are able to introspect, and walk around an experience, and assess and
interpret different points of view, and offer new and intriguing points of view, and
reveal deeply personal tales that offer key insights into what they’re MADE of—it’s any
number of those things. It’s not the story itself.

Gonna lift some words from Stanford’s bullet points. Values, experiences, lessons.
Written from the heart. Influence.

We’ve talked about this Stanford essay a bunch before, so this time around, we wanna
focus on these concepts above.
 64

Especially that word influence. What has shaped you? Who are you today, and what
process has brought that forward? If you’re the grand canyon, don’t tell us the specs of
how big you are, and how deep your canyons are. Instead, focus on the way WATER
and WIND eroded and molded you. It’s the shaping, the influencing, the MOLDING we
wanna know about. This is more revealing than “the result.” “The thing.” It’s all in the
shaping.

Consider the following statement. “I just landed a commercial jet containing 300
passengers.” Impressive? Maybe.

Let’s consider two authors of that statement. Author 1—a 58-year-old veteran pilot with
military experience, and 20 years of experience as a professional pilot. Author 1 has
flown hundreds of flights every year for the past 20 years. Let’s consider the same
statement, but introduce a new author, Author 2. Author 2 is 13 years old, scared of
heights, and has a crippling fear of flying. He needs to be sedated every time he flies, in
fact. One day, he wakes up mid-flight, due to his sedation unintentionally wearing off.
He notices all of the passengers beside him unconscious, the captains of the plane
incapacitated, and he turns out to be the only person on board who can communicate
with air traffic control. The kid puts on the headset, now fueled by a will to survive that
trumps all of his phobias, is guided by folks on the ground, and successfully lands the
plane, saving the lives of hundreds on board.

Now ask yourself, which “landing of the commercial jet” feels cooler, more revealing
about THE PERSON WHO PERFORMED THE FEAT? The answer is obvious, and the
example was purposely absurd to demonstrate a point. The stuff Stanford wants to
know about isn’t the “landing of the aircraft.” They wanna know about the phobia. The
decision to walk into the cockpit in spite of the phobia. They wanna know how
someone with these fears, with zero experience, etc. etc., could pull this thing off. They
wanna know about the WATER and WIND folks… that shaped the grand canyon. Not the
canyon itself.

So, let’s bring this back down to Earth. When you’re figuring out what matters most to
you, think about polarities in your development. The strongest stories are the ones that
have the most intense and compelling “arcs” where your starting point is here at point
A and then somehow, things, people, circumstances, experiences, etc. SHAPED you…
MOLDED YOU (like water and air) to travel to point B where you ended up—essentially—
a different person. We need to understand all that CONTEXT. If you’re talking about an
experience that “changed” you, or that “made you who you are,” it’s only as effective as
our understanding of who you were BEFORE that experience so we can contextualize
the change. If a person affected you significantly, same deal—we need to know who you
were BEFORE that person affected you.
 65

“Before & After” is an incredibly powerful tool for MOST B-school essays, and never
more powerful than here for Stanford’s famous essay.
Grand Canyon, ladies and gentlemen. But not the canyon itself—water and air. Water.
And air.

Stanford Essay B: Why Stanford?

Enlighten us on how earning your MBA at Stanford will enable you to realize your
ambitions.
• Explain your decision to pursue graduate education in management.
• Explain the distinctive opportunities you will pursue at Stanford.
• If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address
your interest in both programs.

Same deal, gonna borrow some KEY words from Stanford. Your decision. Distinctive
opportunities. Stanford.

• This is what I want to do—and here is why YOU should be excited about it. (This
doesn’t require a ton of backstory or setup—some setup, yes—you need our buy-
in. If your idea is uninspired, guess what, so too are “you.” Sell it. Give us just
enough background and then in simple terms, walk us through your
aspirations. With surgical efficiency.)
• I’m confident I’m gonna succeed because I’m good at it, I know what it takes to
succeed, and I frickin’ LOVE the thing to death. Let me show you what I mean.
This is how it’s all gonna look, step by step. Notice how each step as I’ve laid it
out SNAPS into place perfectly. I understand the logic behind all of it because I
“get” it, I “get” my vision, only people who get it so keenly are likely to succeed.
• This confidence comes from careful consideration of how it’s all gonna go down,
which has led me to recognize the importance of not just why an MBA is key,
but why Stanford in particular supports my vision the BEST—I am, in effect,
turning down Harvard, Wharton, Booth, etc., you name it, because none of these
places can do XX, YY, and ZZ to catapult me toward my vision like Stanford can.

That’s the essay. In a nutshell. That’s what we call “the subtext.” Underneath the actual
stuff you write, this should be communicated.

In order to NAIL this essay, you must understand Stanford and what they’re all about.
This may take some research on your end, and this is what Stanford is hoping—that
after a TON of research, you have determined that THIS place, unlike any other, is your
 66

best fit. Articulate THAT not just when you address the “why Stanford” piece, but even
as you articulate your goal. The folks who get into Stanford demonstrate a synergy
with the school in every fiber of their application. It’s gotta come through everywhere.

Evvvvverywhere.

But so, after you’ve walked us through points 1 and 2 above, let’s dig in a bit to point 3.
How to understand Stanford well enough to approach this? Spend time on the website.
Read about the school elsewhere—articles, anything written by current or former
students. Talk to former students. Talk to current students. Visit the campus. Los of
ways to engage—where there’s a will, there’s a way. Read stuff by current or former
professors. Notice the trends of what kinds of professors came from Stanford. Notice
what kinds of companies were started at Stanford. Get a sense.

Now, whatever you do, please don’t think that there is a magical phrase or a set of
classes you can name drop that will trigger a successful outcome. The demonstration
of “fit” here is a wildly organic one. It’s in between the lines, never the lines themselves.
Stanford’s assets have to match YOU in a way that won’t necessarily apply to the guy
sitting next to you. This is the whole point about “individuality” and “uniqueness.”
Stanford is curious to see how aspects of its program and culture uniquely affect your
appetite for an MBA, or for your career goals. It’s not “mentioning a class,” folks. Or “a
club.” Or “a professor’s name.” It’s much much much more than that.

It’s an argument.

An argument that PROVES connectivity. Proves that there is something about Stanford
that not even a place like Harvard or LBS or Wharton or Top School X can quite satisfy
in the same way. That’s a great conceit to adopt here. You have a free ride to HBS. Why
would you PAY to go to Stanford instead? Convince me, as though I’m your spouse,
why this is not an insane decision. A great essay here can be between 400-500 words,
no need for it to live outside that range.
 67

UC BERKELEY (HAAS)
 68

UC BERKELEY (HAAS)
Haas Essay 1

If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why? (250
words maximum). {Your song can be in any language, from any culture, and does not
need to contain lyrics. The strongest responses will focus on answering why this song
expresses who you are.}

Bold. A throwback to a question that used to be one of the classic Haas essay questions,
which they moved away from, came back to, and are now reusing. Looks like it’s
working. Let’s unpack it.

What does it mean for a song to “express” who you are? Express how? Words/lyrics?
The way it sounds? Some kind of social/political context that’s a huge part of the song’s
origin story? The fact is, it can be any of those. But one way or another, you’ll need to
make a clear argument for the connection between whichever one it is, and something
interesting about you.

First rule of thumb, unless the song is something like “Happy Birthday” or “Jingle Bells”
… it is safest to assume that the reader may not be able to hum the tune (i.e., know it
well). And unless the band is something like “Michael Jackson” or “The Beatles” … there
is also a chance the reader may not be familiar with (or a fan of) the artist you’ve
chosen. Why is this significant? Because it has implications for how you organize your
250 words. If you were in a room of Radiohead fanatics, you’d be able to pick a track and
talk about it much differently. When that room contains folks who may have never
heard of Radiohead, your original case will fall on deaf ears. You need to “universalize”
your message. This is how you need to think about this essay. Universalize your
message so that the reader — i.e., EVERY reader — is equally likely to extract the desired
message.

How to achieve this? Simple. Think of this essay in two pieces:

Point #1 — “For me, this song is about X.” or “This song creates Y response when I listen
to it.”

Point #2 — “This is how I embody that in real life: X Y Z.”

That’s it. First, “universalize” by establishing an immutable premise, which is how YOU
interpret the lyrics, or discuss your interpretation of their significance. Make sure it’s
 69

through YOUR filter though. The second you start to talk about how X song is about Y,
you may get that knee-jerk response of “well that’s not true, that song is about Z!” Avoid
that at all costs. No one can argue that that’s how YOU receive it, so, you’re safe doing it
that way.

Now comes part II: connect it to how you behave, or how it somehow reflects attributes
of yours. So how do you pick what attribute to talk about? Well, we’ve always found
that if you treat it as an open-ended prompt, you may land on a personal quality that
feels like it describes you perfectly, but it runs the risk of being applicable to others.
One way around that is to establish a few marquee identifying qualities of yours.
For example: banker (Goldman, JP Morgan, etc.), 760 GMAT, age 25, graduate from top-
ranked undergraduate school, Chinese, male. Something like that.

Haas Essay 2

Please respond to one of the following prompts: (250 words maximum)

a) Describe an experience that has fundamentally changed the way you see the
world and how it transformed you.
b) Describe a time when you were challenged by perspectives different from your
own and how you responded.
c) Describe a difficult decision you have made and why it was challenging.

In your response, clearly indicate to which prompt (1, 2, or 3) you are responding. We do
not have a preference among the prompts and suggest that you select the one for
which you can share a specific experience, professional or personal.

Haas Essay 2(a)

Describe an experience that has fundamentally changed the way you see the world
and how it transformed you. (250 word maximum)

This is a carryover from last year. So let’s take a trip down memory lane…

95% of applicants will potentially have great stories to tell here, but the mistake they
usually make is focusing on the CHANGED or slightly ALTERED worldview. The most
effective response here contrasts the ORIGINAL worldview with… the CHANGED world
view. This is a before AND after essay.
 70

This is what I used to think about X. Then this THING happened that changed my
outlook. And my outlook went from X to…….. Y. Here’s why it changed, and this is how I
changed as a result. I went from A to B.

Unless we know the “before,” NONE of it is interesting. At the end of Return of the Jedi,
Darth Vader emotionally embraces his son, Luke Skywalker. Big deal. A father being
nice to his kid? What’s interesting about that?

Well, only that “fifteen minutes prior, the same-said father tried to turn his son into an
agent of evil, or… eviscerate him.” That’s a bit of a twist, wouldn’t you say? Kinda need to
know about THAT before you can be impressed about what happens after the change.
Also, we are now begging to find out how that guy went from wanting to “kill his son” to
“saving him.”

The starker the contrast between the BEFORE and AFTER, the stronger the essay. We
need to know the following elements:

1. I used to think THIS about XXX.

2. Then this THING happened—an event, a person who influenced you, some
agent of change, doesn’t matter what form it takes.
3. I then went from thinking XXX to thinking YYY, on account of that agent of
change.
4. Personally, I changed from being AAA to being BBB, and this is why this is
worth writing about.

Haas Essay 2(b)

Describe a time when you were challenged by perspectives different from your own
and how you responded. (250 word maximum)

First things first, we need to find a great example before we can address it smartly.
Two versions to think about here:

Version 1 – Can you think of a time when a colleague (or someone else whose
perspective mattered in this instance) was perfectly aligned with you on the desired
outcome… but had a different sense for the PATH required to get there?
Example: “They moved the deadline UP, and our team is already overworked…”
 71

• Colleague’s perspective: Time to tighten the screws and find new ways to
motivate the team.
• Your perspective: Time to EASE the pressure so that our team can perform
optimally all the way through to the end and not burn out mid-way.

Version 2 – Can you think about a time when a colleague pictured a different OUTCOME
altogether, path notwithstanding?

1. Colleague’s perspective: Let’s sell ads and start collecting revenue now, we’re
leaving money on the table.
2. Your perspective: Let’s develop the product, grow our user base, monetize later,
there’s a bigger prize to be had…

Surely there are differences in perspective that may not fall neatly into these two
categories, but broadly speaking, this should help you sort through (or even generate)
your list of potentials. Let’s say you’ve found your topic, now what…
We need to start slow and not get ahead of ourselves. First, we need to establish what
YOUR objective was. What was it you needed to achieve and how did you want to
achieve it? (And also, why was it IMPORTANT for you to succeed?)

Now, presumably you couldn’t just breezily achieve it… something stood in your way.
Namely, a difference in perspective. Walk us through who it was that thought
differently, and what that difference was. If you are able to SEE IT from that person’s
perspective (however wrong you feel he/she may have been), it will strengthen your
case. That understanding. If you can contextualize someone else’s perspective and
STILL poke holes in it, it will come in handy when it comes time to negotiate, or attempt
to resolve the conflict. If, on the other hand, you can’t understand why the other person
thinks the way they do, attempts at resolution may become more challenging.

Part of the “test” here is to see how capable you are at juggling multiple perspectives,
how open you are to different angles. As you walk through this first half of your
response, these are the key issues to grapple with, putting yourself in the other guy’s
shoes, empathy, taking nothing for granted, slackening your grip on a personal belief (if
even for a second).

The second half of this essay is all about what you DID after all that analysis. What
were your actions? Your tactics? Your maneuvers? Show us what you considered doing
(don’t be afraid to reveal bad ideas that you later rejected – remember, we want to see
gear-churning here). And then take us through the actions in a way we can picture. If
you were ever unsure of yourself, that’s okay. Reveal it. Take us through step by step.
In the final few sentences (no more), tell us what happened. Summarize a few key
 72

takeaways. Don’t dwell here. The goal isn’t to get inside a resume bullet. Instead it’s to
see the makings of a future LEADER through your ability to navigate divergences in
visions… deftly.

{If you end up choosing a personal story rather than a professional one, the basic
premise will still be the same. Someone holds a different perspective on something,
usually on either the PATH toward something, or the OUTCOME itself.}

Haas Essay 2(c)

Describe a difficult decision you have made and why it was challenging. (250 word
maximum)

This is a tricky one, because some decisions masquerade as tricky ones, but are
actually easy decisions accompanied by complicated emotions. Let’s get inside that
distinction.

Let’s say you’re diagnosed with a strange rare illness where you are told you are no
longer allowed to eat red meat, otherwise you will die instantly. Let’s further assume
that you have a spouse who depends on you, kids who depend on you, and you really,
really, really love your spouse and kids more than you love red meat (just pretend).
Now, this decision may SUCK because you may also reallllllly love a good steak or a
good burger, but ultimately, you’re (hopefully) not going to choose to have one more
bite of red meat, only to cause an instant death and leave all those people hanging.
Does the decision hurt? Sure it does. It’s hard (as I write this) to even THINK about
giving up delicious steaks and burgers and racks of lamb, etc. But it’s not really a hard
decision.

Let’s say you love two employees the way you love a brother, or child, or best friend.
And pretend further that for some reason, you needed to fire one. Let’s further assume
that both were equally valuable for various reasons. Now THIS is a hard decision
because there is potentially equal merit to EITHER SIDE. Or, if not equal merit, at least a
compelling argument to be made for either side. In the previous example, there really
isn’t a great case to be made for enjoying one last bite of a steak only to then cause a
lifetime of suffering to loved ones, right? Here, however, it is not quite so simple. This is
the kind of difficult choice we want to see you grappling with.

Here’s a neat trick to figuring out whether you have a “good” hard dilemma. Can you
make a compelling case for EITHER or ALL potential decisions? If you can’t, then it’s
probably not truly a hard choice. For it to be hard, you need to be able to find clear merit
 73

for either side — therein lies the rub: GIVEN that there is merit to multiple points of
view, what’s the BEST one? Now we get into cooler stuff like assessing the bigger
picture, looking at longer-term impacts, weighing intangibles with tangibles (“yes, this
was in the short-term financial interest, but Choice A would have caused a mutiny and
resulted in a mass exodus of our key people; so we opted for a loss, but we preserved
our conscience and therefore the team that would lead us through the rough patch and
eventually into great future successes”).

Once you have your choice, here are the ingredients of a killer short essay:

• Walk us through the situation as quickly as you can so that we understand the
choices at hand.
• Then make strong cases for multiple approaches, and SELL them (don’t get
ahead of yourself here).
• Now that you’ve laid out multiple outcomes, explain why this was a hard choice,
because for each of those potential results, there was something undeniably
desirable.
• But then, walk us through YOUR METHODOLOGY for isolating the deltas
between those results, using NEWER information, like long-term benefits, or
other deciding factors that started to tilt the scales toward one approach over
another.

It’s all about that last bullet. We’re less interested in your choice and the results (we can
get much of that from your resume) than we are in the way your GEARS work. Show us
how you arrived at a way to help come to the right decision. Not, what that decision
was, and why you made it. Go back one step and show us how you got there.

Haas Essay 3

Tell us about your career plans. How have your past experiences prepared you to
achieve these goals? How will Berkeley-Haas help you? (500 word maximum)

Very straightforward, standard B-school essay question. Not much to analyze here,
other than to suggest a few key nodes you’ll wanna hit along the way:

• Before you delve into your path, give us a frame. You’re applying to B-school
because you’re chasing something, and you’re getting stuck (otherwise you
wouldn’t need that MBA, right?). So let’s start with what you’re chasing. Sell us
on the idea first, in very broad strokes. Get our buy-in from the start. Get us
leaning forward in our chairs. Get us excited. Give us just enough to understand
 74

what the idea is and how you’re going to achieve it. Very high-level (details will
come in a few paragraphs).
• Now take us to only the three (or so) nodes in your past that connect the most
important dots along your overall journey. That word journey is important, only
the stuff that ties to your PROGRESS toward the goal you established at the top.
Now, there may have been some lateral moves and digressions along the way —
that’s okay — all part of a progression, but the take-home point of each is that it
somehow nudged you closer toward this eventual goal. Walk us through it as
you would a story.
• This progression should bring you up to the point where you are either unable
to advance any further without an MBA or without the business school
experience. Or, you believe that an MBA is going to catapult you toward that
goal. Explain it to us, show us the need, show us where the gaps are, make us
understand the answer to this question: “Why aren’t you out there attacking
your goal instead?”

Now that you’ve established what you don’t have, show us how Haas gets you those
things PARTICULARLY well or BETTER THAN a competitor. Imagine getting invites
from Stanford and MIT and UCLA and HBS. Why might you select Haas over all of
those? What is it about Haas specifically that fits best with what you need? (If your
answer works with any other school, you’re not getting specific enough.)
 75

UCLA (ANDERSON)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 76

UCLA (ANDERSON)
UCLA Anderson Essay 1

We believe that the best results are achieved when you share success, think fearlessly
and drive change. With this in mind, what are your goals at UCLA Anderson and in your
short-term and long-term career? (750 words maximum)

They wanna know three things:

1. What are you planning to do at UCLA? How are you going to take advantage of
this program? This… opportunity?
2. Then, what are you going to attack in the ST?
3. Finally, where does it all go, where is it all headed? The vision, at least. What’s
driving you?

But, they’ve given you a framework to test your fit with UCLA in particular. If you avoid
tying your reasoning BACK to these three concepts, it may seem like a cut and paste
job, so let’s figure out what they’re going for specifically. UCLA is high on the following
three things: sharing success, thinking fearlessly, and driving change. Let’s take em
one by one (they’re not terribly complicated).

Share Success
What does it mean to share success, and why do we care? Well, sharing success can
mean a few different things. On the one hand it can be about inspiring others by
celebrating wins, and wins feel good. It can also be a great way to improve the odds for
future success, by sharing best practices and educating others on how and why the
success occurred in the first place. It also implies the power of many over the power of
one. If you embody the spirit of sharing success, chances are you’re the type who will
be great to collaborate with.

Think Fearlessly
This isn’t just about risk. It’s about having the boldness to consider… everything. It’s
about encouraging ideas even if they’re bad, because at some point a GREAT one is
likely to change everything. It’s having a thirst for the unknown. It’s being comfortable
with failure. Now, you can still be shrewd and risk averse, but simultaneously embody
a “think fearlessly” attitude. You just need to start out open-minded and end up
wherever you end up. It’s the guys who approach things with a restricted vision for
how things need to be, who fail this particular smell test.
 77

Drive Change
Are you the first guy in the pool? Are you the guy that pushes someone ELSE to get on
board a crazy idea? Are you the guy who’s unafraid of belly-flopping, because you
know that a chink in the armor of the status quo is a necessary first step? Do you have
the tirelessness required to persevere in the face of multiple obstacles? These are all
the things that are characteristic of folks who don’t just appreciate change, but DRIVE it
themselves.

As you answer three of the more familiar sub-questions (plans at UCLA, ST goals, LT
goals), your job is to channel each of these three things in your walkthroughs. Now,
there is NO formula for HOW you should weave this all in. The best way to approach
this is to draft your response quickly, and then go back and search for compelling
evidence that addresses each of the three components. These don’t need to be direct, by
the way. In other words, you shouldn’t hit it too on the nose and talk about “how you
like to drive change” or “think fearlessly” etc. It’s more about your actions that support
your claims, that SPEAK to these qualities.
 78

UNC (KENAN-FLAGLER)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 79

UNC (KENAN-FLAGLER)
UNC Essay 1

Please describe your short and long term goals post-MBA. Explain how: your
professional experience has shaped these goals; why this career option appeals to you;
and how you arrived at the decision that now is the time and the MBA is the appropriate
degree. (500 words maximum)

Very typical goals essay that covers the gamut of just about everything one could in a
“goals” essay. There’s no secret sauce necessary here, ladies and gentlemen. However,
it is worth pointing out their curiosity about “how you arrived at the decision that now
is the time and the MBA is the appropriate degree.” Outside of the typical responses, it’s
worth allocating a solid 75 words or so to really DIG into this. And there’s no better way
here than to literally take it head on.

1) Establish The Problem/Identify the Opportunity (75 words)

Typically, there’s an opening in an industry. Or a system that’s broken. Or a
status quo begging for a revolution. An opportunity in need of SEIZING; a
problem in need of FIXING. Bring us into “the thing,” whatever it is. Establish it.
Set it up. Make US see… what YOU see. Bring us on board, and we will root for
you. This “buy-in” is an essential part of any career goals essay setup.

2) High-Level GLIMPSE of Long-Term Aspirations (50-75 words)

Without getting into the nitty gritty, reveal what it is you wanna DO. Not the job
title, not the position, not the company… but rather, the result that COMES FROM
all those things. What it is you wanna actually ACHIEVE. What NET RESULT are
you hoping for? What will the consequences be? Paint us a picture. No details,
just enough for us to get the gist.

3) Walk us Through The Career Path/Take us on a Journey (100-125 words)

This is NOT just giving us your resume. Far from. We want to feel the
INEVITABILITY of your next moves (MBA, short term, long term, etc.). This
happens ONLY when you take us through a chronology that has a logical
direction. Highlight the most meaningful aspects of your work experiences—
aspects that (1) connect your past achievements to your future goals, and (2)
prove to us that you’ve been successful in things that therefore promise
success in those future goals.
 80

4) The Short-Term Plan, into the Long-Term Plan (100-125 words)

Details details details. Show us that you’ve considered it from every angle. Show
us why this ST goal makes perfect sense as a bridge, and why each step is
necessary. Show us a progression. End this section with a reason why you can’t
just… get going already. There’s a reason you can’t—you’re missing some stuff,
you need an MBA.

5) Why Get an MBA? Why School X? (125 words)

Prove to us the NEED for an MBA. Not in the abstract, but why YOU need an
MBA at this particularly ripe moment. For Kenan-Flagler in particular, walk us
through the “realization” moment. It’s cooler if it wasn’t a foregone conclusion,
but something that came from consideration. Bring us into the “considerings!”
Probably you could succeed just fine without an MBA, but make our mouths
water at the notion that you could succeed in a SPECIAL way with that degree.
Remember, you’re not just listing merits of a program—they know this stuff
already. The part they don’t know is how their program gets YOU to where you
want to be. Show us how this happens at this program, and why THIS program
is preferable to others.

UNC Essay 2 (Optional)

What personal qualities or life experiences distinguish you from other applicants?
How do these qualities or experiences equip you to contribute to UNC Kenan-Flagler?
(300 words maximum)

This is a fun one. An opportunity for you to let your personality bleed through a bit.
Don’t be afraid of taking some risks here and cutting loose. In doing so, you’ll be proving
THAT you have qualities that distinguish you from others. What does taking risks
mean exactly? Well, it could be in the CHOICE of the qualities you talk about, or in the
way you DELIVER it. Perhaps you take on a more conversational tone. Perhaps you tell
us an incredible story (as opposed to a more dry explanation OF the thing). Whatever it
is, your personality should shine through here. Someone who doesn’t know you should
be able to read this essay and get a sense of what you must be like in person.

But okay, let’s talk about the actual STUFF now (in the abstract). What kind of thing
distinguishes you from other applicants? Well, this is where you’re gonna have to be
super hard on yourself. Or, extremely self-aware. Recognize that many of the things
you THINK are unique to you are in fact quite common. Oh no.
 81

Recognize further that some of the things you think you own…. others not only have,
but have cooler versions of! Double oh no.

Start with that as your challenge. Don’t just pick stuff to talk about. Sell us on why
these are cool. Because chances are, we’ve seen it a thousand times before. If you can
“sell” it well, then the sky’s the limit. Then you can make even the most COMMON thing
seem uncommon. And that—by itself—is a cool skill.

What could possibility distinguish you from other applicants? Couple tricks here to get
the juices flowing. Think about cool oxy-morons and surprising aspects of yourself.
Let’s say you’re a mid-20s Indian male IT guy from India. Well, rather than talk about
how you play cricket, what if your thing is lacrosse? Or, hell, BALLET? Or something
else that makes us go… “what just happened.” Think about the predictable, and then try
to make it go upside-down. You’re an IT guy, but you were a contestant on American
Idol. You’re a corporate, Wall Street type, but you write children’s books in your spare
time. You’re a Chinese guy who hates numbers. Find things that surprise WITHIN YOUR
OWN REPERTOIRE. Don’t just look for ways in which you think you might be cool.
Those juxtapositions are there already. Find ‘em. This should get you 2/3 or 3/4 the way
there.

But once again, don’t ignore that second question, about how you APPLY these. The
“what’s in it for us” aspect. What’s the VALUE in that trait? Be careful here, there doesn’t
need to be a 1:1 relationship between your cool traits and the way you apply it. Let’s say
you’re a potter, and that you have a ridiculously cool life history in clay pot making.
Well, that doesn’t mean you need to “start a clay pot making club” at Kenan-Flagler.
There must be some other WAY in which you can apply this cool thing. Maybe your
passion for art can be channeled toward something neat and productive while at
school. Maybe it is starting a club, but maybe that club is to help raise money to provide
opportunities for students studying art at a local elementary school. Or maybe it’s even
simpler than that. Maybe clay pot making is a pure distraction for you from work.
Maybe there’s value in that, and your bringing that out in other students end up
making for a healthier campus life, and more productive, happier students. All sorts of
possibilities. But you gotta argue it, and convince us. And it can’t seem canned. We’ll
know in an instant whether you’re just saying it to impress, or whether you’ve actually
thought it through. (Never try to impress; it won’t work!)

UNC Essay 3 (Optional)

If your standardized test scores are low, or if you have not had coursework in core
business subjects (calculus, microeconomics, statistics, financial accounting), please
 82

tell us how you plan to prepare yourself for the quantitative rigor of the MBA
curriculum. (300 words maximum)

A slight twist on the usual Optional Essay prompt, in that it’s a tad more specific. This
one focuses purely on “can you handle the maths at b-school?” Let’s suppose that on
paper, your test scores and grades (or lack of experience with higher level math) raise
some doubts as to whether you can handle the “quantitative rigor.” Okay, no big deal.
Prove to us some other way that you can hang.

What are you prepared to do between now and when you start school? What have you
already done? Where else is there evidence elsewhere (in the work place, for example)
of your aptitude here that may act as a counterweight to a lackluster GMAT?

No matter what, do not make excuses. Be confident, straightforward, and simply

reassure the adcom that you’re on it. My grades/GMAT is low, but I will be able to hang
with the best of them. Here’s the evidence. Zip in, zip out. The shorter and more to-the-
point, the better.
 83

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (BOOTH)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 84

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (BOOTH)

View this collection of shared Booth moments. Choose the moment that best resonates
with you and tell us why.

Presentation/Essay Guidelines:
• Choose the format that works for you. Want to illustrate your response
visually? Submit a slide presentation. Like to express yourself with words?
Write a traditional essay. Use the format that you feel best captures your
response, the Admissions Committee has no preference.
• Determine your own length. There is no prescribed minimum or maximum
length. We trust that you will use your best judgment in determining how long
your submission should be, but we recommend that you think strategically
about how to best allocate the space.

Technical Guidelines:
• File Size: Maximum file size is 16 MB.
• Accepted Upload Formats: Acceptable formats are PDF, Word, and PowerPoint.
We strongly recommend converting your piece to a PDF file prior to submitting.
• Multimedia Restrictions: We will be viewing your submission electronically and
in full color, but all submissions will be converted to PDF files, so animation,
video, music, etc. will not translate over.

The 2016 Chicago Booth essay question is more or less the same general idea as last
year, which was a significant departure from previous years, where the famous
Powerpoint prompt seemed to leave things even more open-ended. This year, they’re
asking you to engage with a series of photos, and then explain your connection to one
of them, specifically around the idea of resonance. That’s what the prompt says,
anyway.

Resonance, yes. But… to what end? If a pic of their resonates with a 96-year old infirm
gentleman moments before he passes, it may be a wonderful moment for the
admissions committee, but it doesn’t exactly do them much good. Or if this were to
resonate with a 13-year old because some aspect of one of their photos struck a deeply
emotional chord. It might make for a tear-jerking story, but… if that kid doesn’t end up
becoming a businessman through the Booth program, improving from it, and
improving others along the way, none of it matters. See what we’re driving at here?
Don’t let the wording distract from the fact that you need (as with any MBA application
essay) to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are destined for success. Period.
 85

So, once again, the best response to this prompt comes down to one thing and one thing
only: proof of future success.

First, let’s dig into the idea of proof itself. This is where visual media can be incredibly
useful in helping you support your claims more effectively than through the written
word. Imagine an artist (painter) telling you about his work. However good his
descriptions may be, will it ever be as convincing as actually showing you the actual
work itself? Or even better, imagine a chef describing what his best dish tastes like, in
an essay. Wouldn’t the most effective delivery method be to taste the actual food? Or a
musician, extolling the virtues of a song in a speech, rather than… playing the song. You
get the idea.

For this particular essay, you should consider yourself an artist. Or a chef. Or a
musician. You’re about to make some kind of claim about what makes you marked for
success, and to then take it a step further to show exactly how your potential for
success is heightened somehow by Booth specifically. But, remember, if they can’t see,
or taste, or hear your argument, it won’t weigh much.

So let’s dig into the meat a little more. Two pieces to this thing:

Piece 1 = What You’re All About.

Piece 2 = Why Booth complements that unusually well.
Piece 3 = Why these things combine ultimately to spell success in your future.

Which part to attack first? Your instincts may tell you to start with Piece 1, but we’re
gonna recommend otherwise. First, do your homework on Booth. Research. Read. Poll
alums. Investigate. Follow the careers of professors. Read their work. Dig into clubs,
Booth-specific offerings, course list, the latest happenings on and off the campus. At
some point during this research, you’re gonna come across something that resonates
with you. Something you find appealing. Something that makes you say to yourself “I
want that for myself.” Your brain is unusually adept at filtering out the stuff that’s
common to all programs, all the overlap. Trust those raw instincts when you sense
something that’s somehow… “Booth.” Your brain will latch onto something that
generates a gravitational pull toward Booth and Booth alone. “I wanna be around
THAT.” “THAT looks fun.” “I wanna experience THAT.” “That thing is right up my alley.”
“That thing captures me perfectly.” Make a note, and try to articulate (to yourself, or in a
note) what it is about the article or picture or finding that appeals to you. See if you can
find a few of these. This is a great starting point.

Now, get your Freud on. Take a look at the stuff you found appealing about Booth, and
see what it says about who YOU are. What are you made up of such that those aspects
 86

were appealing? See how that works? It’s reverse engineering at its best. Let’s say, for
example, that there’s some kind of team building culture at Booth that inspires you.
Great, now turn inward and recognize that you THRIVE in team-based environments.
Now, here comes the tricky part: It’s not enough for you to recognize that trait and then
just… claim to have it. You have to now find the EVIDENCE in your background and
“prove it.” Maybe it’s through photographs. Maybe it’s through creative flowcharts. And
maybe it IS through a compelling written story. Whatever the medium, your goal is to
demonstrate a clear understanding of certain appealing aspects of Booth, at the same
time as you sell your connection to those aspects.

But now comes the icing on the cake. If you only demonstrate an understanding of
Booth, and manage to show a connection to YOU, but don’t quite paint a picture of how
those two things spell success in your future… you haven’t quite cinched it. In order to
scorch this “essay,” you need to crush all three. So that’s your challenge throughout the
process. Am I delivering clear, compelling proof about what makes me tick? Am I
connecting that to something specific about Booth? And finally, have I suggested that
when those two things combine, it serves almost like a product guarantee that I
(product) am gonna succeed?

(Use the photos as a jumping off point. Go after essences and don’t take the pictures too
seriously or literally.)
 87

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN (ROSS)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 88

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN (ROSS)

Ross Essay 1

What are you most proud of outside of your professional life? How does it shape who
you are today? (up to 400 words)

In 2015, Ross split these into two separate questions, personal and professional. This
time, they’re combining them into one question. Don’t read too much into it. Whatever
your choice is, your reasoning for why you are most proud of that particular example
must reveal something … cool about you. It’s weak if you’re excited about an
accomplishment only because it was the company’s biggest “win” ever. There’s
something off-putting, opportunistic, greedy, and maybe even “small” about that
perspective.

Instead, the value for you should be something much more personal. You battled some
demons to achieve that thing, overcame self doubt, you convinced the company’s
biggest skeptic and taught you a lesson in business politics, etc. etc. It has to be
something that contains SOME element of vulnerability, otherwise, it’s never all that
compelling. If Darth Vader died in the first ten minutes of Star Wars, and Luke
Skywalker is cruising through the Death Star trenches UNCHALLENGED… is it as
impressive? Not nearly. The closer you brushed against failure, or some kind of
calamitous outcome, the better.

Click here to see our full analysis from last year, and dig deeper into this essay.

Ross Essay 2

What is your desired career path and why? (up to 250 words)

Very straightforward, don’t overthink it. The more straightforward the better. The more
researched you seem, the better. The sharper your steps are, and how they lead
logically to the next ones, the better. Don’t spend too much time on the passion part in a
vacuum. Focus instead on how you’re gonna measure success in your career path.
Explain it THAT way, why you’ve chosen THOSE outcomes to be the markers of
success. Simplest way to attack is to treat this in two major pieces:
 89

Part 1 – Establish the problem or opportunity quickly. Now explain your solution or idea
or objective. Explain the steps you’re gonna take to “get there.” Be methodical, and
clearly explain why A leads to B leads to C.

Part 2 – Now explain what you hope to ACHIEVE, and why those will be your measures
of success. If you do this properly, it should lend to an honest reveal of what fires you
up about this field/career path.
 90

UT AUSTIN (MCCOMBS)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 91

UT AUSTIN (MCCOMBS)
McCombs Essay 1

The University of Texas at Austin values unique perspectives and cultivates a

collaborative environment of distinct individual contributions. It is the first day of
orientation. You are meeting your study group, comprised of five of your classmates
from various backgrounds. Please introduce yourself to your new team, highlighting
what drives you in your personal and professional life.

Select only one communication method that you would like to use for your response.

• Write an essay (250 words)

• Share a video introduction (one minute)

Introductions can take place in a variety of ways. Standing in a circle of a few at a

cocktail party. In a one-on-one interview. First day on the job.

The version we’re after here is much different. McCombs just handed you a mic,
dimmed the house lights, and threw a spotlight onto you. This is your time not just to
introduce yourself, but to perform. A performance is artful. And requires a special type
of messaging. Your challenge isn’t to hold the attention of the guy sitting across the
desk who is usually forced to tune in. Your challenge is to capture and sustain the
attention of a room full of people, whose magnitude (by itself) tends to make it an uphill
battle from minute one.

Golden Rule: Dullness is deadly.

Don’t be dull. Don’t be quiet. Don’t be average. Don’t be monotone. Don’t be… safe.
Now’s your chance to tap your inner Louis CK. Your inner MLK. Your inner Seth
Macfarlane. Charm. Wit. Risk. Energy. A deviating from that safe, straight, center
pathway.

Whether it’s an essay or a video, the very first thing you need to do is grab your
audience’s attention. There’s no real room for a slow burn here. If this were a two hour
movie, and you had a proven track record, maybe an audience would spot you an
unceremonious beginning, trusting in a future payoff. You have no such luxury here,
my friend. Your cohort doesn’t know you. You need to be spectacular and attention-
worthy from second 1.
 92

What makes for a good opener? Well, practically speaking, “it” can be absolutely
anything, which is to say it can take the FORM of just about anything. But what most
great opening moments have in common is this: they knock the reader/audience off
balance. For most of you, that may sound great, but it still may not mean much. “How
the hell am I supposed to throw the reader off balance?” Well, one way to think about it
is to leave some stuff OUT. The more buttoned up your opening is, the more likely your
audience will feel secure. And secure—for now—is lethal. Bad.

“My name is Craig Blodgitsnick. I am 27 years old. And I’m a banker.” Great. Super clear.
And therefore… too clear? It’s all buttoned up. The audience needs a reason to hear
more. With an opening like that, however, we’re left with no such desire. Here’s an
alternative.

“I make people cry for a living.”

Um, say what? What the hell does that mean. Did he just say that? I have no idea who
this guy is, I have no idea how I feel about him, I have no sense of whether that’s a good
or bad thing. What I do know… is that I’m dying to hear more. Success. This speaker has
the audience in the palms of his hands.

“Pond. Cigarette. Abandoned BMW. These three things almost got me arrested, led me
to my future wife, and ultimately set me on a path of world domination.”

Huh? I mean, I couldn’t be more in. Who the hell says that? How on Earth are those
three things connected? After everyone gives their boring standard speech, I can bet
you money I’m gonna remember the guy who said THAT.

Throw your reader off balance. Give them a reason to want to read more. Now, not to
scare you, but this isn’t easy. It is a touch risky, and it requires some finesse. But it is
absolutely worth working toward. But just for a moment, let’s talk about the downside…
If you can’t quite pull it off, and it seems forced and inauthentic, then you run the risk of
seeming like you’re trying too hard. And that’s a liability. So, get a gut check from a
second set of eyes (doesn’t have to be a pro, could be anyone—see if they buy it). If it’s
just not passing muster, there is recourse. Which is to tell a very honest, earnest story.
Your story, a personal story. But, it’s gotta be a cool story. If it’s a straightforward, you
are toast. There’s gotta be some GRIT in there, some adversity, some uniqueness. That
can be equally compelling.

“Hi, my name is Goran Crevitz and I became an adult when I was five years old when I
was separated from my parents and grandparents. My first job was…”
 93

Yah, I’d listen to that guy. (But did you notice how even here, the author has thrown the
audience off balance? This is not happenstance.)

Whichever medium suits you best, take advantage of it. Don’t choose the video if all
you do is read an essay. If you use video, it has to be because there’s something about
your look and body language and visible energy that communicates something a
written essay can’t quite capture. If you choose an essay over video, it’s gotta be
because there are certain things you’re able to do with the written word that would be
MORE effective than a video version.

Keep your audience on the edge of their seat, though, by throwing them off balance.

McCombs Essay 2

Based on your post-MBA goals and what drives you in your personal and professional
life, why is the Texas MBA the ideal program for you and how do you plan to engage in
our community? (500 words)

{Before we dig in, it’s worth noting that this essay is nearly identical to what McCombs
did the last few years, minus a few minor changes to the wording. So, this isn’t their
first rodeo (get it? Rodeo? Texas?!) They know what they like, and they want it again.
And what they want is an applicant who wants THEM.}

The worst thing you can do here is tee up a response that can work just as well for
another school. McCombs is an outstanding program. One of the best! But it doesn’t
have the rank or reputation of “Top 10.” These guys don’t wanna be the fallback option
to folks who can’t quite make it to schools that are higher up on their preference list.
They’d rather take the guy who wants McCombs more than ANY OTHER program.
Why? Well, when you want something badly, you tend to work harder to get it. Desire
here counts for a lot.

So, in order to make this argument convincingly, you need to come across as a guy
who might PREFER to go to McCombs over MIT or Wharton, etc. This argument must be
as personal as it is based on logic. At some level, the argument won’t hold water if it’s
too “logic-based.” Why would anyone prefer a lower-ranked program to a higher-ranked
one? Well, there are lots of potential reasons, but it can’t possibly be based on certain
parameters that led to that school’s ranking that is LOWER than another’s. Let’s say
you were about to choose a husband and your decision was going to be based on
height, and that you wanted to marry the TALLEST option available. Man #1 is 6’8” and
Man #2 is 6’0”. You can’t select Man #2 “based on his height.” The logic collapses there.
 94

Now, you CAN, however, suggest that that while height is important to you, Man #2
possesses THREE ESSENTIAL and UTTERLY COMPELLING OTHER TRAITS that
ultimately make him trump Man #1. This will allow you to get out of the “wait, if these
are the reasons you like McCombs, why wouldn’t you prefer Haas, or Tuck, or Duke” etc.
You MUST find those “UTTERLY COMPELLING OTHER TRAITS” that make McCombs
the most desirable “man” on Earth for YOU. (This is true of ALL programs, but is
especially true of schools ranked in the mid-teens.) If your arguments aren’t specific
enough, this essay will just implode on itself. Do as much research as you possibly can,
and make it clear that you know everything there is to know about this school and that
you would almost rather NOT earn an MBA than to earn an MBA at some place OTHER
than McCombs, because McCombs is simply the best and most effective path that
connects the present you to the desired future you.

Describe the fit. Explain what McCombs is, and then articulate how YOU snap into place
perfectly. Explain it emotionally as well: feelings you get from your research, talking to
people, visiting the campus, etc. This becomes bulletproof. No one can argue with “how
much you like a place” or “the fact that a particular school energizes you,” for example.
In terms of impact, you’ll want to demonstrate a clear understanding of their mission,
what the value is in a student body, and then to show how your presence will not just
be in step with them, but also enhance it in some meaningful way. Be specific. Better to
talk about something that is particularly meaningful to McCombs that may not be all
that exciting to another school. (As always, if THIS response can easily be applied to
another program… it’s not going to hold up.)
 95

UVA (DARDEN)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 96

UVA (DARDEN)
Darden Essay 1

Describe the most important professional feedback you have received and how you
responded to it. (500 words maximum)

The single Darden essay approach, back again. This time a new prompt altogether.
Let’s get serious about a single word. Pay close attention, this single word is going to
determine whether you have the makings of a good answer here:

“Change.”

Good for Darden, by the way; they’re onto something solid here. A person’s capacity to
change is a very cool indicator for future potential. Now, change WHAT, exactly? It
could be a deeply-held belief. It could be something fundamental about your
personality, or the way you’re coming across. It could simply be a kick in the pants that
exposes a disconnect with your perception of things compared to others’. Change can
apply to many things. But the key idea for this essay is this: something about your
actions, or behavior, or approach BEFORE the feedback underwent some kind of
change AFTER you received that feedback. Before the feedback your tactic had been
A. After the feedback your tactic became B. If there isn’t a discernible difference
between the two, you may either be picking the wrong example, or casing the right
example incorrectly.

Let’s lay it out. You’re operating in whatever your role is: project lead, analyst,
entrepreneur, whatever. Then someone says something to you. Who? Doesn’t really
matter. Could be a client. Could be a co-worker. Could be a superior. Could be someone
from a competitor firm. Could be anyone that said something that made you PAUSE…
and eventually develop some tweak to how you mentally approached things; or
something behavioral, that was DIFFERENT from however you were operating before
you received that feedback. The harder it was for you to MAKE this change, the better
the story. After all, a victory is generally measured by the level of difficulty associated
with achieving it. A boxer who wins the title match when his opponent had the flu isn’t
nearly as impressive as when the opponent was in peak physical shape, right?

So this may be one way to figure what you’re going to write about. When have you ever
changed? See if you can come up with a list. Moments in your professional life that you
LET GO of an idea. A moment where you consciously BIT YOUR TONGUE to do
 97

something uncomfortable, but it led to a more permanent change. A moment where

you were incredibly HUMBLED by someone else’s perspective, and learned just how
wrong you were. All of these things were probably met with some resistance. (Again, if
the feedback made perfect sense, the ensuing change couldn’t have been all that
difficult.)

It may have taken time to “get over” the feedback before you were able even to process
it fully and develop a game plan to address it. This is okay; it makes you human. And
those of you capable of admitting this are likely capable of real greatness (Darden is
aware of this, and is looking for the rare few who can talk about this openly.)
Then you decided to do something about it. Walk us through not just the “doing,” but
the surrounding process of fully comprehending the feedback and dealing with it.
Eventually, take us through the steps you took to address it, and especially the
challenges associated with it. Again, if it was easy, you haven’t picked truly interesting
feedback.

Let’s review:

• Shortlist times in your professional career where you made a significant

change in TACK, in response to feedback you received from someone.

• Pick the example where your new approach was MOST different from your
initial one. This delta should be as big as possible, thus making your ability to (1)
hear the feedback and then (2) respond to it… as DIFFICULT as possible.

• Take us through your reaction, including denial, resistance, hurt feelings,

surprise, disbelief, irritation, humility, all of it. Don’t skimp on the details here.
The more honest you’re able to be, the greater your ability to be a truly
thoughtful and effective leader.

• Now take us through to the steps you took to act on all that introspection. What
did you do, and remember to explain exactly how each step was challenging
(without that reminder, it won’t seem like growth).
 98

UPENN (WHARTON)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 99

UPENN (WHARTON)
Wharton Essay 1

What do you hope to gain both personally and professionally from the Wharton MBA?
(500 words)

A slight twist on the typical goals essay. To misquote Ferris Bueller, if you don’t stop
and think about it carefully, you could miss it.

It’s all about that word “personally.” Kind of a head-scratcher, and good for Wharton.
Have you ever thought about it that way? Typically, we are conditioned to define
success in every way EXCEPT for how it affects us personally. Kudos to the folks here
for getting y’all to think this through now. They may have just done you a huge favor
simply by having you READ this question.

The “what you hope to gain professionally” is a touch easier, isn’t it? Maybe it comes in
the form of a position, THROUGH WHICH you’re achieving something cool (remember, a
position by itself isn’t an end — it’s a means to an end). It’s not that you want to be the
CEO of Apple just to be the CEO of Apple. It should be more like this: AS THE CEO OF
APPLE, I would like to change the way people… XXX YYY and ZZZ. The professional goal
here is the XXX YYY and ZZZ piece, not “being the CEO of Apple.” See the difference? Fair
enough, you’re all probably comfortable with that distinction by now. Let’s get to that
tougher piece, the personal aspect of the goal. It’s a doozy.

What does it mean for you… personally? Let’s get inside it. What does it even mean to
have a personal goal? Try this on—what if at the end of the day, you were operating
from inside a sensory deprivation tank, and had NO IDEA whether your efforts were
succeeding or failing. {It’s a strange conceit, try to go with it for a second.} Imagine it.
You’re slaving day in and day out, pushing, grinding, with a very clear objective in
mind, and you believe you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing to make it all
happen, but… somehow, there are NO clues available to you to indicate whether it’s
actually working or not.

Are you sated? Is there something about the work itself that fulfills something…
personal? You’ll know when you’ve dialed into the perfect career here when even the
belief/hope that you’re succeeding fills you with some kind of internal satisfaction.
Otherwise, you may be pinning your prospects of “happiness” on purely external forces
which is… dangerous. And Wharton is wise to want to look into this and catch it early.
 100

So then, what makes you feel internally fulfilled? What is it that you want to be
doing—regardless of the outcome—that will deliver a sense of “achievement”?
Identifying that is going to be a huge battle won.

After that, shaping this sucker shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe it can go something like
this:
• Walk us through the vision, same as you normally would. Quickly invite us in,
show us the opportunity that you see, the problem you want to fix, the thing
that spurs you on. Then, with broad brush strokes (high-level), a glimpse into
what you want to do. (75 words or so)
• Now give us the professional goals. Walk us through the plan—perhaps first in
the short term. (100 words or so)
• Part II of the goals, but longer term, where it’s headed. What you want to achieve
(not just in job title, but what happens because of it). (100 words or so)
• And now, dip into the forgotten child of “personal” fulfillment. (100 words or so)
• How does Wharton give you BOTH those things? Focus on the how, and use
specifics. Make an argument here, not in the abstract—treat it like a
mathematical proof. (75 words)
• In a neat twist, it may be strong to CLOSE with a solid, assertive justification of
why you need an MBA. Restate your personal and professional goals, and
explain why this is a must for you at this time. (50-75 words)

There are a few ways this essay can take shape. This is just one example to get you
going if you’re stuck.

Wharton Essay 2

Teamwork is at the core of the Wharton MBA experience with each student
contributing unique elements to our collaborative culture. How will you contribute to
the Wharton community? (400 words)

Some context for new applicants to the Wharton MBA. Years ago, these guys had one of
the longer sets of required essays, close to 3000 words. Recently, they swung the
pendulum far in the other direction. Last year it was just a single 500-word essay. This
year, they’ve added a second question to the mix. This should be a signal: the one essay
was somehow not quite enough. So let’s look at this new question, and dig deep.

You’ll hear this theme a lot. Wharton would never claim a monopoly on the idea that
they prize teamwork. Kellogg has probably been the most successful at BRANDING
that aspect of their culture. When you think MBA programs that sport teamwork, you
 101

think Kellogg. Well, the fact is, teamwork, as it pertains to elite MBA programs, is a key
universal element. Find me one elite MBA program where students felt generally
isolated and independent. {Crickets.} There’s teamwork everywhere. And for all intents
and purposes, it’s equal. So, first things first: let’s not waste time attempting to make
the argument that you’re DRAWN to Wharton for that reason. Mkay? Mkay. Next.

Let’s remember what business schools are after: INDICATORS OF FUTURE SUCCESS.
Cannot stress this enough. All they want to see (in your applications, in your interview)
is as high a probability score that you are going to be successful in life. Well, there’s a
twist. Let’s just say you had a first year class of 100 MBA students. If each of those 100
students scored an “A” on the promise of future success, that’s fabulous! That class will
graduate and those individuals will achieve some version of greatness. Let’s call it a
future success score of “A.” Let’s replay it though. Imagine another set of 100 students
who showed signs that they will not only be successful as individuals, but that in
addition, they scored high on the TEAMWORK index. Meaning, they scored high on
their ability to improve FROM others, and to IMPROVE others. What happens THEN?
Well, that same class of 100 business school students will begin with their already-
destined success, and then IMPROVE IT based on the synergies between them. This
means that their future potential as individuals inside THIS type of class – heavy with
cooperative individuals – is even MORE impressive.

So, signs of teamwork are part of it. What they really want to see is evidence that your
own abilities grow more powerful in the company of other motivated individuals. And
that your energy and leadership and innovativeness has improved the brains and
abilities of others. Where in your past (your recent past especially) can you find
evidence of either or both of those two things? Put together a list, rank it. You’re off to a
smashing start.

Now, let’s talk about structuring this sucker. They wanna know how your addition to
their class is gonna make the individuals in it… better. Well, first, consider that everyone
applying will lay claim to the fact that THEY – no seriously – THEY really embody
teamwork. So, saying it isn’t going to get you anywhere. We need proof. Go back to that
list you made, and pick your top one or two stories. Start this essay by bringing us back
to an experience that reveals – through your decisions and actions – your ability to
interact with others, compromise, inspire, negotiate, repair, etc. One helpful way to
“solve for X” in this problem (where X = teamwork-related-strength) is to imagine some
of your most powerful wins, and to reimagine them WITHOUT the help of others
helping YOU. Or, to reimagine them without YOUR helping others… to help you. Either of
those scenarios should result in a “less good” version of the same story. And therein lies
the GOLD that will anchor this essay. Whatever caused the DIFFERENCE between those
two versions is some ability of yours either to contribute, or to respond, in a way that
 102

will be tasty to Wharton. Because it should be proof that when you are interacting with
others… good things happen.

Build that argument through an example or two. This should take you through the first
250-300 words. Then for your final shot, see if you can make a case for why this trait of
yours will create particularly exciting sparks for you in the Wharton environment. Yes,
you can bring this teamwork talent anywhere (Stanford, Harvard, CBS, Kellogg, etc.).
But if there’s something specific about Whartonians, or Wharton offerings, that
convinces you that you are more likely to thrive in this environment, make that case
here. Doing so will reveal just how much research you’ve done on this, and how
intimately you know the program. (And therefore, how much more likely you are to
succeed because you seem to be a tightly wound coil, holding a ton of potential energy.)
Specificity is your friend here. If we see you make any argument that can be applied
equally to another program, we will smack you. Or, if you make an argument that
anyone else who’s applying can make, we will double-smack you. Your arguments
need to be both specific to you, and specific to Wharton. A great way to pull this off is
first to express what type of environment YOU need in order for YOU to succeed
maximally. Then, map certain specific aspects of Wharton TO those points. If you do
that, we’ll give you a Borat-approved High-Fiiiive.
 103

YALE (SOM)

SURPRISING moments within all of us, where we became men and women. Usually it
 104

YALE (SOM)
Yale SOM Essay 1

Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. (500 words maximum)

Yale keeps doubling down on its brand: social responsibility. If you want to help people,
if you want to save the world through business… Yale’s the place for you. The same way
that Kellogg has (for better and for worse) become the school for marketing, Yale SOM
is the social responsibility mecca. (Make no mistake: if you want to end up in finance or
consulting or most other traditional B-School destinations, Yale, like Kellogg, and like
every other elite school, is as good a choice as any.)

They, like many others, are asking one question. Let’s unpack this sucker. What does it
mean to make a commitment? What makes one commitment cooler or more
meaningful or more impressive or more important than another?

Let’s look at a few sample commitments:

• To my wife/husband, I commit to loving and protecting you unconditionally

forever.
• To my child, I commit to loving and protecting you unconditionally forever.
• To Nonprofit Organization X, I commit $1M of my personal dollars toward your
organization and cause.

The first two are kinda obvious, no? We’re not inclined to be impressed. “Wow, what a
commitment! That guy just committed to loving his child forever. Inspired!”
The last one seems pretty legit. Contributing $1M toward a cause? That’s unarguably a
MAJOR commitment from anyone. (Right?)

What if, to that list, we added some… stuff:

• To my wife/husband, I commit to loving and protecting you unconditionally

forever, even if YOU were to hurt or betray ME. Because my commitment to
you and what that commitment is serves a greater purpose; to our children, to
society, and is more important than my own emotions.
• To my child, I commit to loving and protecting you unconditionally
forever, even if your sexual preferences fundamentally violate everything I
believe, that our religion allows; even if your political views and your morality
 105

unravels sacrifices my parents made for me, and sacrifices I have made for
you; because my commitment to you is more important than my own beliefs.
• To Nonprofit Organization X, I commit $1M of my personal dollars toward your
organization and cause. My net worth is $3 billion.

How does that change things? A lot.

Now all of a sudden those first two carry a little more weight. And that third one, not so
much. Yes, $1M is a giant number to most, but to put it in context, it’s .03% of $3B. To
someone whose net worth is $500,000, .03% would amount to $166. When you put it in
those terms, $1M feels… less… something, doesn’t it? On the one hand it is the exact
same “dollar commitment” but in a different sense it feels like LESS of a “commitment.”

What then is commitment really all about?

True commitment seems to require some amount of self-sacrifice, or putting of oneself

at risk in some capacity. Someone who pursues an action or takes up a cause or
embraces a responsibility, despite its being inconvenient in some way, has made a real
commitment (or more of a commitment) compared to when those inconveniences are
fewer or far between. This is not an absolute. Commitment, to be sure, lies on a
spectrum. But, the measure of commitment maintains an inverse relationship with
what we’re calling convenience. The more convenient the commitment, the less
impressive. And the opposite is true: the more INconvenient, the more impressive the
commitment.

Phew. Back to Earth and back to the practical task at hand: The Yale SOM application
essay for 2016. First things first. Dig into your personal and professional history and
generate a list of things you’ve committed to. Aim for five for the first attempt. Five
commitments you’ve made. Don’t overthink this first pass, just list them as you can
recall them. Try not to go back too far to your early childhood (although based on the
openness of the prompt, everything seems to be on the table). Now that you have your
initial list, go through each one and try to quantify somehow which ones put you at
risk the most. Or those items where you stood to lose the most. The ones where the
stakes were somehow highest. Rank that list most to least. Now look at it. The top item,
or the second item will probably be your best candidates to explore…

Once you have it, let’s consider an outline to get you on the right track:

1. Set up the commitment – Part 1. Bring us back to whatever the circumstances

were PRIOR to the moment you made your commitment. And one of our
favorite tricks to keep in mind, don’t write about it using the past tense (i.e.,
 106

using your modern day brain). Instead, travel back in time and imagine how the
world looked in real-time, and write in the present tense. Explain what was
happening, and who needed what. (Roughly 100-125 words).
2. Set up the commitment – Part 2. Establish the stakes (explain what you were
putting at risk, what you stood to lose, why it wasn’t an easy commitment to
make), and then reveal the commitment you made. (75-100 words).
3. How was your commitment tested? – Part 3. Explain the ways in which your
commitment was put to the test over time. Explain the times it was difficult to
remain committed. Or whatever your version is that made it not EASY to
remain committed and consistent. And walk us through your resolve
throughout. Or, how your resolve wavered, or disintegrated, and how you
regained it, whatever your version is. Remember, if your story doesn’t include
this element, it’s probably not a great commitment for this (100-200 words,
possibly two paragraphs).
4. Why is this meaningful? – Part 4. What’s the relevance of this to your future as
an MBA? Finally, draw a link between this story and your prospects for
succeeding in business school or in the future, or better yet, both. What were the
lessons learned that have strengthened you in ways that are applicable to your
business goals? (Roughly 100 words).
 107

OPTIONAL ESSAYS
 108

The Option Essay

Much has been written about the Optional Essay, yet it still seems to leave many
applicants scratching their heads. So we’d like to clear it aaaall up for you cleverly,
briskly, and not without our special brand of Admissionado humor.

Behold: the first ever Admissionado Guide to the Optional Essay.

[And yes, it can be broken down into 3 easy points.]

1. Speak to the facts. As we have all heard countless times, the key to the Optional
Essay is to explain WHY you bombed the GMAT. Why you did so badly in
college. The adcom already knows THAT you did, so here you can tell them a
story. “I did A badly in college, but the reasons are B and C. Since then, I’ve done
D and E. See that? No problems here!” Just the facts, gang. No long-winded,
circular stories.

2. Don't write unless you have to. As most of us know, this is NOT a chance to slip
in a new essay for the adcom’s viewing pleasure. “Well, I haven't written about
community service yet, so…” Nope. Bad idea. If they wanted a story about
community service, they’d have asked for it. Follow the rules here; if you try to
use this essay for anything but explaining a situation, the adcom will question
your judgment.

3. Speak with Confidence. This is the only one that seems to trip people up. The
last thing that an adcom wants to read is another whiny explanation as to why
you blew the GMAT. After you’ve written your first sentence, they KNOW where
the essay is going. We HATE to spend all 500 words on this essay if we can help
it; get in there, make your point, and get out. If you are not sorry, if you don’t
apologize, that is perfectly FINE. All you need is some clear logic; make the
point, and exeunt. Speak with confidence, and don’t dwell. This should be the
shortest essay that you write. Period.
 109

REAPPLICANT ESSAYS
 110

The Reapplicant Essay

Okay my friends, today we would like to talk about the MBA reapplication process. And
there is more to it, of course, than just the essays; MBA reapplications are an ART form,
gang. Essentially, you are answering the question, “How can I show that I have
improved enough to make the cut THIS year, even though I didn’t LAST year.” The
answer, as always, is pretty simple.

There are many things you can do and here today as an MBA reapplicant. We will
highlight three:

1) Get feedback on your old app. This is perhaps the most critical piece. Have an
expert read through your application. This could be a consultant, or even a
current or former adcom member. Reach out to them for feedback. Some
schools will provide it, and they may also take note that you showed this
additional interest.

2) Make small, continuous improvements. Again folks, you have TIME on your
side. Sign up for an additional extra-curricular. Retake the GMAT. Take on some
additional work at your job. The main mistake that most folks make as
reapplicants is that their application looks…just like it did the first time. This
obviously begs the question: why should we accept you now, and not last year?

3) Turn your misfortune into…GOLD. The key to a reapplication is to show

improvement. In a perverse way, last year’s rejection actually puts you at a
distinct advantage–your application now has a purpose. “Last year I did THAT,
but I fixed it and now I do THIS.” If you nail it, and if you address the issues that
were raised (in numbers 1 and 2 above) you are in a unique position to show
IMPROVEMENT. You can show how hard you work, how you stick to your goals,
and how you solve problems in the face of obstacles. This is actually a
tremendous opportunity that first-time applicants do not have.

Last year’s misfortune can become a distinct advantage for you. You just need to tell
the story the right way.
 111

INFO@ADMISSIONADO.COM