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Applicant Question: Two Tips for MBA Admissions Essays

Looking at your background, it’s clear that you’re a competitive candidate for admissions into a top business school.  You have relevant work experience and interesting experiences as a leader.  You also have proof that you’re highly-motivated and a hard worker.  All good traits. That said, what else can you do to stand out from the other five thousand applicants?

One of the best ways to stand out in the MBA admissions admissions cycle is writing a first-class set of essays. Essays not only give you the chance to elaborate on the things you couldn’t fit into other parts of the application, they also give you the chance to really tell your story – who you are, what obstacles you’ve overcome, the details of your professional experiences, and the things that make you stand out as an eventual leader in the business world.

What’s ironic though, is that in general, most people’s essays could still use some polish. After all, we’ve all been out of school for years and don’t spend nearly as much time writing and editing as we used to. Similarly, writing multiple essays for multiple schools can be difficult, not only because most people are busy and can’t devote as much time to write but also because the process is difficult – telling a full story to the committee, determining which stories fit best for which schools, writing in a style that’s both eloquent but also concise, and finally using your essays to say as much as possible while still making the essay readable and enjoyable. A herculean task by all measures.

Because I’ve been getting a lot of requests to help with essays recently, I thought I’d write a few “guiding” rules I like to think about as I write and review essays myself. I’ll share two of those tips with you here today, because I’ve recently edited a couple of essays where they became relevant.

1. Answer the question: One easy, but often overlooked rule of thumb for writing essays at any school is to answer the question. For some schools the essays are different than others so you have to understand not only what things you want to express to them but also how to actually answer the question. MIT’s questions, for example, are stylistically different than those of other b-schools, as they ask “…explain what you said, thought, felt and did.”  When I was apply to MBA programs, an alum of the school once told me that “MIT is thirsty for the details of the story, not your impressions of the story in retrospect …  Be explicit about what actually happened.” So always go back and re-read the question. Be sure of what it’s asking. And make sure that you not only answer the question but also that everything in your essay supports you answering the question. Because the worst thing you can do is answer an essay with your own agenda in mind. Admissions folks can see this a mile away, and I suspect that it’s a sure fire way not to gain acceptance into a good number of schools.

2. Headline: When possible try to set the tone of your essays by engaging your audience. Admissions committees have read thousands of personal statements and essays, so it’s important to set the tone for the statement and get the reader’s attention right away. Like any good book or New York Times article, a good opening line, whether an anecdote or a personal story, can be helpful. Just as long as it grabs the committee’s attention, while also reinforcing the topic. But also remember, just because you start the essay off in a casual or funny tone, doesn’t mean you should write the whole thing that way. Use your discretion but also remember that you’re writing an MBA essay so formality should also be a consideration.

This year shaping up to be just as competitive as the last few years, so you definitely want to do your best to land a spot at a great school.  So keep these things in mind as you’re writing your essays.

Also, be sure check back here, at jeremycwilson.com, for more essay and interview tips over the next few weeks.

Good luck!