Long Term MBA Planning: Short Answer Completion

July 2nd, 2007

Throughout this series, we have focused on freeing candidates from all other constraints so that they can pay careful attention to their essays as the questions are released. Short answers – the small sections within the application forms themselves that pertain to your work history, community accomplishments, scholarships and criteria, etc. – do not change much from year to year. While many choose to put off these “details,” you can rid yourself of a headache now by taking the time to complete these sections. Furthermore, similar in benefit to your resume, by completing this step early on, you may contemplate and discover stories that will be quite useful in writing your essays. An abbreviated version of HBS’s short answer on work history follows:

Job Description:

Job Title:

Your Responsibilities: (200 characters only)

Key Accomplishments: (200 characters only)

Most Significant Challenge: (200 characters only)

Reason for Leaving: (200 characters only)

Again, if you need to complete these forms thoughtfully for several positions and then complete several other similar sections for your volunteer and extracurricular experiences, this can be time consuming as you approach the deadlines. By completing them now, for all of your applications, you will have a brainstorming tool in hand and a small obstacle out of the way.

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