Essay Writing Tips for MBA Admission
After GMAT preparation, writing your essays will likely be the most time-consuming part of the application process. Admissions directors often cite essays as the most important part of the application. The combination of these two factors means that you should dedicate a significant amount of time (15–25 hours per application) to producing powerful and persuasive essays that are succinct in style. Essays provide the M.B.A. candidate with the opportunity to bring the application to life.
Your essays should be the base upon which all other application components are built. You can think of your essays as a platform that can be used to tell your personal and professional story. You have flexibility in terms of tone, so feel free to utilize a professional, informal, or humorous voice in establishing your story. The other components (recommendations, interview, resume, and data sheets) should substantiate that story. The more aligned your components are around common themes, the more positive the impact on your application. Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil, or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect.
Many candidates write an optional essay to address deficiencies. Most M.B.A. admissions directors receive hundreds, yes hundreds, of optional essays each year from candidates who explain that their lower GMAT scores are a result of their historic inability to do well on standardized tests. But simply calling attention to a deficiency and offering an excuse are rarely enough. The successful candidates take it a step further and offer examples of strengths and successes that may compensate for or balance the deficiency.