1. How has your family and/or community helped shape your development? Please include information about where you grew up, and perhaps a highlight or special memory of your youth. (750 words)

The power in this essay comes not from stating facts, but from being reflective and thinking about the events, experiences and people who have shaped your life. While this can be a brief whimsical memoir, it is important that you identify the factors that have made you who you are today. This does not need to be a chronological story, but the reader needs to gain an understanding of a set of values that are imbued in you – whether overtly or implicitly — via your experiences. Not all of this essay needs to be “sunshine”, but if you are going to approach difficult topics, it is essential that you do so without bitterness or resentment. This is the committee’s truly personal introduction to you and you want to give them a sense of the type of personality and contributor you will be on campus.

2. What experience has had the greatest impact on who you are today and why? (500 words)

This question is personal in nature, despite the fact that you can draw your experience from any realm – personal, professional, community, external political, etc. In answering this question, you would be best to identify an experience that allows you to discuss a “before and after” scenario – to illustrate tangible change in your behavior, thinking, values, etc. Although the experience itself is quite important and should be presented in such a way that the reader “feels” the impact, the change and the reflections on it will show the magnitude of the event and thus reveal its true gravity.

3.  Discuss your short-term and long-term career goals. What is your motivation for pursuing an MBA now at UCLA Anderson? (750 words)

Because Personal Statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today.

4.  Audio or text:  Select and respond to ONE of the following questions. We would like you to respond to the question by recording an audio response (up to 1 minute).  If you are unable to submit your response via audio, then please upload a written response (250 words) instead.  The supported file types for audio files are: .avi, .wav, .mp3, .wmv, .midi, .wma, .aiff, .au, .mp4

We welcome UCLA to the “unorthodoxy ‘essay’ club,” along with Chicago and NYU, which both have creative essays that essentially extend the writer blank pages. In approaching this statement, it is best not to be distracted by the audio element to start. You should contemplate your answer in a vacuum and then, once you have settled on your approach, consider how you want to present it via audio.
Of course the audio extends you some liberties that text does not. You may want to incorporate audio effects, present your “essay” in an experimental style, etc. All bets are off and any approach should be fine. Just remember, your message is more important than the effects.

A)  What does entrepreneurial spirit mean to you?

If you are choosing this “essay” you might connect the meaning of entrepreneurship to something that you have already accomplished or to a dream that has long been with you. By illustrating vision, a vision emphasized through your audio recording, you should be able to establish credibility and make believers out of the admissions committee. Clearly, you will need to convey that you are passionate about this spirit in order to succeed.

B) What global issue matters most to you and why?

Remember, this is not the place to voice your political views or air grievances. In this essay, you have the opportunity to show that you are keenly aware of the world – not preachy — and that you take personal ownership of issues that are affecting your conscience, community and beyond. So, you should not just attack a political or social issue, but must consider your personal connection with it. An excellent “essay” will show an unusually strong “relationship” with the matter and prove that you are deeply affected by its implications.

C) What is something people will find surprising about you? 

Generally, this option can be used to add “spice” to your profile and enable you to quickly differentiate yourself from others. For this essay to be effective, you need to draw a stark contrast with what is expected of you. Further, it would be best to show accomplishment in this “surprising field.” So, if you are a banker who loves Karaoke, it probably won’t do that much for you. However, if you are a banker and perform in the Opera, you will likely catch the attention of the MBA Admissions Committee as a singular individual.

 1: Why a Yale MBA? What is the impact that you wish to have on the world? How will your previous experiences and a Yale MBA enhance your ability, in the short-term and long-term, to pursue a career that will allow you to achieve this impact? (500 words maximum)

Because Personal Statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today. 

2: Leadership Example
Describe a professional accomplishment that exhibits your leadership style. The accomplishment should include evidence of your leadership skills, a description of the actions you took, as well as the impact you had on your organization. (500 words maximum)

The phrasing of this question emphasizes the need to create a narrative. You should not just tell the reader that you led and that you were successful, but you should tell the story of how you led. As you explain your actions, there should be a clear cause and effect relationship – your actions leading to the overall success and the desired impact. Remember, impact suggests that your actions had an enduring effect – that there was a before and after. So, you should be careful to reflect on this change and your personal learning.

3: Personal Statement 1

Choose one (1) of the following topics and answer it in essay form. Please indicate the topic number at the beginning of your essay. (500 words maximum)

(1) A central premise of our teaching about leadership at the Yale School of Management is that true leadership – leadership that helps to address a significant problem in a new way – is necessarily personal. It is only when personal passion aligns with meaningful aspirations that individuals are able to inspire others to act in support of an important goal or cause. What are you most passionate about, and how have you demonstrated a commitment to this passion?

This question is a bit convoluted in nature, but the end result of the lead-in is that the committee wants to know about a passion. So, this is not the place to discuss a hobby or an interest, but a something that you have taken to an extreme or shown an inordinate interest in, in relative terms. The individual who cooks regularly is not passionate. The individual who spends an entire day combing through a dozen farmer’s markets looking for a unique vegetable for a soup is indeed passionate. As you can tell, via the example in the last sentence, creating a sense of how the passion is manifest is crucial and so are the results of it.

(2) What personal achievement are you most proud of and why?

This essay question could result in some conceptual overlap with the last one. So, you would be wise to weigh which question you want to answer – which one lends itself to a more powerful showcasing of your story. In this essay, you will clearly need to identify a standout accomplishment and again, create a narrative that reveals it. Many candidates state the achievement first and then tell the story. While in certain instances, this can be effective, we generally advise candidates not to kill the mystery. By creating a narrative and letting the reader follow the progress of your story, the reader will naturally follow and want to read on, arriving at the climax, only to discover your remarkable feat. 

(3) Describe a situation in which your values were challenged. How did you respond to the situation and what did you learn from it?

In order for your values to have been challenged, you need to have identified a time when you were weighing something – something was hanging in the balance. If your boss asked you to do something that was flagrantly wrong, then your values would not have been challenged and the situation at hand would have been quite simple to resolve (nothing was weighed). In order to create a strong essay, you will need to identify a time when there was internal struggle with regard to the right course and then explain your reasoning in choosing one side.

(4) A phrase often heard among SOM graduates is that they aspire to lead a life that is an “SOM Story” – that of a broadly engaged, values-based leader who owns and solves hard problems that matter. How will you create your own SOM Story? Describe a situation in which you devised and implemented a creative or innovative solution to a difficult problem. What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?

The phrasing of this question necessitates a discussion of the past and the future. You need to create a narrative about how you encountered a problem and solved it in a novel or unique way, which is a challenge in itself. Beyond this, you need to adapt this anecdote or the skills revealed in the resolution of this problem to a future situation (“How will you create your own SOM story?”) The “adaptation” aspect of the question will allow you to creatively delve into your future and discuss potential problems that you expect to resolve in a moral, ethical and creative way – a tall order for 500 words, but certainly possible.

(5) The Yale School of Management is a community of individuals with diverse backgrounds and interests. What unique attributes would you bring to the Class of 2011?

Again, Yale gives you the opportunity to differentiate, but in this essay, you can pick your experiences: personal, professional, entrepreneurial, academic, etc. In writing this essay you can showcase more than one distinct attribute and should do so anecdotally. Don’t tell the reader that you have “attribute X,” but create a story that reveals this attribute. Here, you will also have the opportunity to reveal fit with Yale by applying your attributes to the Yale experience. Your attributes should not exist in a vacuum, but you should reveal how you intend to “bring” them to the SOM.

(6) What is the most difficult feedback you have received and how did you address it? Looking forward, what skills are you most eager to build or improve upon in business school?

As you consider the feedback that you have received, you should be cautious and ensure that you are not inadvertently displaying behavior that is inconsistent with Yale’s values. An embellished example of what not to do follows: “My boss gave me tough feedback, stating that I am ‘lazy’….” By displaying laziness, you are undermining your candidacy, because Yale tries to recruit highly motivated students. Another misguided approach would be to offer a false critique — a negative that is actually a positive: “My boss told me that I work too hard and need to relax and take a vacation; it was hard to hear that…” These answers are transparent and only annoy the Admissions Committees.
When dealing with difficult feedback, it is important to approach the matter at hand in a straightforward manner. You should attempt to show that you were bold in an attempt, but had a human failing and learned from it. After all, Yale is interested in remedying the “problem” via their resources.  

(7) Required for reapplicants: What steps have you taken to improve your candidacy since your last application?

Whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement or taken on a personal challenge of sorts, the key to this essay is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. Yale wants to know that you have been actively striving to improve, and that you have seized opportunities during the previous year to do so, because a Yale MBA is vital to you. This essay question will vary greatly from one candidate to the next, as each person’s needs and experiences will differ. We are more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance with this highly personal essay to ensure that the above requirements are met. 

4: Personal Statement 2
Choose one (1) of the remaining topics listed in Personal Statement 1, or create a topic of your own about a subject that is meaningful to you, and answer it in essay form. Please indicate the topic number (or state the topic if it is not one of the ones listed) at the beginning of your essay. (500 words maximum)

At this point, you should have ample opportunities to reveal your distinctiveness. If an aspect of your experiences has not been showcased and can’t be via the essay questions above then you can pose your own question and answer it. However, candidates should not just take their best essay from another school and insert it into this space. You need to be strategic and think about your broad candidacy, as you respond to this question.

To the relief of candidates, Darden has changed its essay questions dramatically, now offering them the opportunity to reveal more of themselves. Last year, some candidates felt “pigeon-holed” by having to commit to identifying themselves with one of three adjectives that Darden provided. This year, a more open-ended approach will likely be appreciated.

1. What pivotal choices have you made in your life that have influenced your decision to pursue an MBA?  (500 words)

In this essay, you would be wise not to provide a work history, but to discuss specific instances that have shaped who you are today and why you want your MBA. While your specific anecdotes may be professional, they need not be exclusively so – there is certainly room here for community or personal accomplishment. What is important in this essay is that you create a cause and effect relationship, between these moments in time and your suitability for professional leadership.

While this question has its difference from typical goal statements, we nonetheless feel that some of the principles of writing a proper statement remain. So, we offer our Personal Statement Guide to you free of charge.

2. From the following categories, describe the one that has taught you the most: a creative challenge, an ethical dilemma or an experience of failure.  Why?  (250 words)

As you approach this essay, it is important that you not just take your best story and fit it to the options available. Such an approach will not fool the MBA Admissions Committee. Instead, take a step back and consider each option, carefully weighing which one gives you the opportunity to present the most compelling picture of yourself.

In terms of a “creative challenge”, you should be careful to ensure that both “creative” and “challenge” are represented in your story. Although this is plainly obvious, it is worth stating: any random challenge is not necessarily a creative one. Generally, the creativity will come in the form of your unique approach towards bridging a gap. In such a brief space, you will need to create a narrative about an impasse and then reveal how you solved it, illustrating your profound learning.

With respect to an ethical dilemma, you should be careful, even in 250 words, to show two equally agreeable sides to the chosen situation. Remember, you are not writing about a dilemma if one side is a natural choice. “My boss asked me to trade on inside information, but I said, ‘no’” is a classic example of an ethical issue that is not an ethical dilemma! So, once you have developed a well-balanced anecdote, you should explain how you resolved it in the way that benefited most or disadvantaged the least and then reflect on your (surprise!) profound learning.

Finally, you have the option of writing about failure – our guess is that the fewest applicants will make this choice. Unless you failed in quite a heroic attempt to achieve something special, you will probably shy away from this essay for fear that you will be unnecessarily raising your weaknesses to the surface. We can certainly understand that, but remember, the MBA Admissions Committee is seeking to understand how you learned profoundly from an experience. So, if your failure truly taught you a great deal, you might not be among the reluctant, but might use this space to reveal an honest and mature growth experience.

3. Describe how you are a fit with the case study method.  (250 words)

Before you can answer this question, you need to be sure that you understand the case method. At Darden, the case method is not just contained to the classroom experience, where you analyze and attempt to solve a business problem (many times there is no easily identifiable or collectively acceptable solution). The Darden experience offers more and includes your learning team experience, where you examine cases prior to class, the cold call, where you are randomly selected to lead the case discussion, and even independent preparation, which you complete prior to your learning team meetings. By learning about Darden’s approach to teaching cases, you will be able to better identify with this question.

So, from there, once you understand the case method, you can connect with it on many levels – via your penchant for group work and/or debate, previous success with experiential learning, track record of nurturing talent and educating/mentoring others, comfort with uncertain and unpredictable outcomes, etc. While there is no “right” answer (much like in a case), it is important that you create a clear connection between your experiences and your potential success in a case environment.

Darden offers a very particular experience; through this question, they are “weeding out” those who may not know what they are in for in terms of group demands, a willingness to participate in class and more. You will need to prove that you truly understand.  

You must answer the following four questions:

Long Answers (500 word max)

Essay 1: Briefly describe your short-term and long-term career goals. Why is an MBA the best choice at this point in your career? What and/or who influenced your decision to apply to Ross?

Because Personal Statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today. 

It is important to note that Ross includes the line, “what and/or who influenced your decision.” Increasingly, MBA Admissions Committees (NYU, Haas) want to know that you have completed a priori research and you are not merely whimsically applying, based on rankings. In this essay, you should not just delve into the resources the school offers but also explain how your interest was generated, via interactions with alumni, faculty, students, admissions officers and possibly even educated outside parties.

Essay 2: Describe your most significant professional accomplishment. Elaborate on the leadership skills you displayed, the actions you took and the impact you had on your organization.

This is a relatively straightforward essay, but it is important that you offer more than just your accomplishment to the MBA Admissions Committee. Ross is seeking to understand the “leadership skills you displayed, the actions you took”; a solid essay will reveal your leadership skills via your actions. Thus, it is vital that you have a process-orientation in your writing, as this will ensure that the committee truly experiences your leadership style. If you create a narrative structure, the committee will gain a window into your personality and recognize not just that you are effective, but HOW you are effective.
 
Short Answers (300 word max)

Essay 3: If you were not pursuing the career goals you described in Question 1, what profession would you pursue instead? (for example, teacher, musician, athlete, architect, etc.) How will this alternate interest contribute to your effectiveness in solving multidisciplinary problems?

Through this essay, Ross is attempting to understand alternative aspects of your character. Indeed, the examples in the question are telling because “teacher, musician, athlete” are not typical post-MBA careers. So, it goes without saying that you should not write about how you would consider banking, if consulting were not to work out.

It is important that you be creative in your response, but also that you connect your response to existing experience. If you have no background as a teacher or simply do not have the personality for it, it becomes far more difficult for you to make the connection to this hypothetical career. (Thus, when you write about your proposed career, you need to strike a balance – you cannot afford to be too whimsical, and at the same time you cannot afford to be dull either.) Further, if you are not profoundly connected to this alternative career, you will find it quite difficult to answer how you will use this interest to attack multidisciplinary problems.
 
Essay 4: Describe your experience during a challenging time in your life. Explain how you grew personally, either despite this challenge or because of it.

Harkening back to our Monday Morning Essay tip “Conflict is Good,” Ross substantiates our point that it is not all that interesting to read about a smooth and easy ride toward success. Indeed, Ross wants to understand that you have faced obstacles and that you have the strength of character to overcome them. While you are free to draw from personal or professional experiences, it is important that you avoid “sympathy plays” and clichés about “learning resilience.” Write with candor and honesty and discuss the abiding impact that a challenging experience had on your life – a successful essay will show that you have substantively changed your mentality or actions and that the experience had an enduring and positive effect.

Question 1 (600 words)

In what role do you see yourself working immediately after graduation?  Why?  How will your past and present experiences help you achieve this?  How will the London Business School MBA Programme contribute to this goal? Why is this the right time for you to pursue an MBA?

The first part of LBS’s personal statement is slightly different from others in that it is very specific, requiring you to identify your particular postgraduate role. There is no room here for aspirations (Stanford) or vision (HBS) – name your position and state exactly how LBS will help you get there. As for your “past experiences,” you need not offer a work history; you are to relate these experiences to your goals. This is not a discussion of your “path to your MBA,” but a statement of how your MBA and professional experience will enable you to succeed in the future. This is a nuanced distinction, but it is important.

Nonetheless, even this essay has some similarities to others. Because of such overlap from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today.  

Question 2 (200 words)

Where do you see your career progressing five years after graduation and what is your longer term career vision?

In essay two, you should again be particular in identifying your role in five years, but can be a bit more “grand” with respect to your longer term career vision. Here, you get to identify less of a role and more of an ideal endpoint. Again, you need to ensure that there is a logical connection between your plan, from post-graduation to five-year progress to long-term vision.

Question 3 (500 words)
Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life.  Include any specific challenges you have faced. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your first year study group?

Ideally, you will offer a diversity of personal and professional experiences that show compelling examples of when and how you had an impact on a team, as a leader or an equal team member or even as a junior. You can use this essay to give the MBA Admissions Committee insight into your communication skills and personality, particularly in the face of “specific challenges.” Via this question, you will naturally be able to reflect on how you have been successful in team environments and how you will harness  experiences (positive and negative) to be a positive force on your learning team. By proving that you possess a clear understanding of the demands of your learning team, you can show the MBA Admissions Committee that you have done your homework and are truly interested in LBS 

Question 4 (400 words)
Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. What type of student club or campus community events will you be involved with and why? How will you contribute?

In this essay, you have the opportunity to give insight into your interests and passions, whether they are academic, professional or personal. So, essentially, the opportunities in this essay are twofold – first you can reveal your personality and then you can connect them to your awareness of LBS’s extra-curricular offerings.  Ultimately, via your proposed contribution, you can explain how you would promote community at LBS, showing additional character traits – industriousness, an enterprising or creative nature, etc. In a short 400 words, you can accomplish a great deal – your ideas for this essay should be carefully considered.

Question 5 (150 words)
Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country. What did you gain from these?

In a very short space, you have the opportunity to discuss your international experiences and explain why they were important to you. This should not be a long list of travels with one sentence at the end connecting them all. Even in such limited space, you should try to tell a brief story of the best of your experiences and incorporate some reflection about your adventures.

Essay 1. Professional Aspirations:
(750 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)

Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Answer the following:
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?

Because Personal Statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today. 

Essay 2: Fit with Stern
The NYU Stern collaborative community is one of our strongest assets. We seek individuals who are passionate about our community and committed to growing as leaders at Stern. Please answer the following questions:

(a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us?
(b) What is the most difficult piece of constructive feedback you have received, and what did you do as a result of it? How will this experience make you a better member of the Stern community?

Parts A and B of this essay are certainly not a natural coupling. Nonetheless, in the end, they do in fact relate to each other. In part A, Stern wants to ensure that you have done your homework and truly understand why it is the right school for you. In order to make your impression on the MBA admission committee, you will need to discuss a priori experience with the school, via your personal interactions with alumni, students and/or admissions officers, and especially via campus visits. For those who are abroad, it is still possible to learn a great deal by reaching out to the school to arrange to speak with current students or alumni by phone or to attend Stern outreach events abroad. Discussing repeated visits to the school’s websites will mean that you have achieved a minimum; it is vital that you show specific effort in your research and thus purpose in your application.

In part B, Stern asks you to discuss difficult constructive feedback and link it to your membership in the Stern community, completing this somewhat surprising linkage. In terms of the constructive feedback itself, candidates should not be afraid to leave themselves exposed. If the feedback does not hurt a little bit or if you are trying hard not to admit any weaknesses, the admissions committee will be perturbed. Indeed, this is a pet peeve of many admissions officers. So, be honest about an ambitious or even a misguided attempt at achievement and let the reader empathize with how you — with how you did not necessarily live up to your own expectations. (Note: You do not have to offer a spectacular failure in order to recieve constructive feedback. You can do something well and still learn to do it better).

When you have completed part B, be sure to reflect on the feedback, showing an awareness of where this growth will enable you to contribute to Stern. It is not enough to write vague statements about your potential contribution: “I learned how to be a better teammate and will bring my team skills with me to Stern.” Much like in essay 1, you will need to apply your learning, revealing that you fundamentally understand the character of Stern and already recognize ways in which you can contribute tangibly.

Essay 3. 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. (Note: A longer version of this question is available on the Stern website).

In NYU’s famed essay three, you are offered a phenomenal opportunity to differentiate yourself in two distinct ways. First, you can differentiate yourself via the vehicle that you choose to reveal your persona. By choosing a creative and captivating vehicle, you can grab the attention of the Admissions Committee and compel them to read your content more closely. While a baseball card may be captivating, it may not be a good choice because it limits you to a picture, your height, weight, birth date and a very brief bio; meanwhile, a eulogy theoretically written by your best friend (don’t use this idea; it is now public) is sufficiently broad that it allows you to probe all that is unique about you. Indeed, once you have set yourself apart via your “vehicle,” you can continue to differentiate yourself via your content. Ideally, you will exploit the opportunity to showcase a diversity of professional, personal, academic and community accomplishments, few of which will be advertised in essays one or two.

1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)

Because Personal Statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today. 

For additional information on the Tuck experience, please consult the MBA Mission Insider’s Guide series.

2. Tuck defines leadership as “inspiring others to strive and enabling them to accomplish great things.” We believe great things and great leadership can be accomplished in pursuit of business and societal goals. Describe a time when you exercised such leadership. Discuss the challenges you faced and the results you achieved. What characteristics helped you to be effective, and what areas do you feel you need to develop in order to be a better leader?

Tuck puts its own spin on leadership in that it asks for a time when you not only led, but “inspired.” Further, Tuck adds to this question, which in essence appeared last year, by asking you to identify an example where you had broader “business and societal goals” in mind.  So, you may be concerned that you need to discuss a very specific experience, but you should keep in mind that virtually any successful leadership experience satisfies these demands.

Inspiration need not be found only in rousing speeches. It is entirely possible to inspire others through action, creative thought, persistence, etc. So, as long as you were leading others and they were motivated to follow, you have inspired. What is most important is that you capture how you inspired others and show evidence that they were indeed inspired.

With respect to “business and societal goals,” most accomplishments have broad implications. If you helped a firm sustain itself or grow, then it serves both the firm and society. Candidates need not be concerned that they must address a social issue directly; your actions can have indirect benefits – benefits that will require creativity to express.

3. Discuss the most difficult constructive criticism or feedback you have received. How did you address it? What have you learned from it?

As you consider the criticism that you have received, you should be cautious and ensure that you are not inadvertently displaying behavior that is inconsistent with Tuck’s values. An embellished example of what not to do follows: “My boss criticized my laziness….” By displaying laziness, you are undermining your candidacy, because Tuck tries to recruit highly motivated students. Another misguided approach would be to offer a false critique — a negative that is actually a positive: “My boss told me that I work too hard and need to relax and take a vacation; it was hard to hear that…” These answers are transparent and only annoy the Admissions Committees.

When dealing with a critique of your abilities or character, it is important to approach the matter at hand in a straightforward way. The emphasis should be on accepting and remedying the problem. Clearly, with the word “constructive” in the question, you are asked to identify a time when someone took care and sought to help you improve; you need to show that you responded with the effort and thought necessary to “correct” the problem.

4. Tuck seeks candidates of various backgrounds who can bring new perspectives to our community. How will your unique personal history, values, and/or life experiences contribute to the culture at Tuck?

Essay four is quite broad; within “personal history, values, and/or life experiences,” there is a great deal of range. So, it is permissible for you to develop one or two significant themes, drawing from your life experiences, and then relate them back to the Tuck experience. This is an opportunity for you not only to display your unique attributes but also to thoughtfully and subtly imply just how well you know the school. By showing true awareness of your connection with Tuck, you will complete the essay portion of your application on a very compelling note.

Cover Letter

Prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Describe your accomplishments and include an example of how you had an impact on a group or organization. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence and be addressed to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions.

MIT Sloan has finally changed the wording of its unique request for a cover letter, streamlining its language and incorporating some of the text from its “impact” essay question of past years. In some ways, by requesting an example of your impact, MIT Sloan is challenging you to reveal how worthy you are of taking your place in their classroom. Candidates would be wise to offer a powerful example and then connect it with expected contributions to MIT Sloan and personal/professional benefits that will be derived from its MBA experience. (Although it is not entirely clear in the wording of the essay, we think that it is implicit that if you are asked to explain why you are seeking a place at MIT Sloan that you should offer details of your connection to the school.)

A quick point about your introduction: for some reason, candidates feel compelled to start cover letters with “my name is X and I am applying to MIT….” This is a typical and boring introduction offering information that the school already possesses. By creating a different and compelling opening, you will grab and hold the attention of an Admissions Officer who has read thousands of these essays.

While the MIT cover letter is different form the typical personal statement, there are still some “global” fundamentals that apply. Thus, we offer our “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide” to you, free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today.

Essays

We are interested in learning more about you and how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Please limit the experiences you discuss to those which have occurred in the past three years.

In each of the essays please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did.

Essay 1: Please tell us about a challenging interaction you had with a person or group. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

It is important to note that “challenging” need not be interpreted as “heated.” In this essay, you do not have to tell the story of a confrontation, but need to show the reader that you encountered a dynamic that was difficult to navigate and, of course (despite the fact that the question does not ask for it), diplomatically attempted to resolve or did in fact resolve a problem. Through your efforts at resolution, you will reveal your character and management/team/interpersonal style to the Admissions Committee. So, it is important that you carefully consider the message that you send via your actions. Ask yourself objectively, “Am I revealing ‘Sloan-friendly’ qualities?”

Essay 2: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Each year, Sloan has a question about your ability to advocate, persuade or, in this case, defend an idea. In terms of semantics, the word to take notice of in this essay is the “your” in “your idea.” This is not an opportunity for you to discuss a time when you advocated for someone else – you need to “own” this idea to answer the question properly. Of course, your ownership will have its foil – those who do not believe in it. While it is important that you show that you defended your idea passionately, it is also vital that you show that you were not stubborn or inflexible. You want to show that you were willing to consider alternatives and reason through counterarguments. Although this is not a rule, many successful essays will show that you were persuasive and succeeded in changing minds. 

Essay 3: Please tell us about a time when you executed a plan. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

In this essay, you will lead the reader not through the mechanics of a business implementation, but through your process as you were taken by a possibility and gathered the resources and momentum to see it through. What is important to note is that this should not be a “hard” business case, but should be an opportunity for the Admissions Committee to understand your personality through your actions. So, you will need to concentrate on the “soft” aspects of the process (indeed – “what you thought, felt, said and did”). We remind you to think of this as a narrative, not as a formal essay. Tell the story of how you executed, not the results at the end of a successfully executed plan. 

Essay 4: Please tell the Admissions Committee whatever else you would like us to know. (250 words or less, limited to one page)

Considering that MIT limits your choices above and forces you to answer all of its questions, it will likely be a relief to many candidates to have this free opportunity to convey something that is not captured in the essay questions above. If you have a unique passion, hobby, activity or life experience that you have not had the opportunity to share, but shapes you personally, then this would be a good place to write about it. Candidates should take note of the fact that there is still an additional 250 word area in the supplemental information space to explain academic/GMAT problems. So, essay four should be viewed as an opportunity to reveal character, not explain how you can or have overcome academic obstacles. 

1. What do you hope to gain from The Duke MBA?  How does it fit into your short- and long- term goals? If you are interested in a joint degree or the Health Sector Management program, please address in this response.

Because Personal Statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today. 

2. How will you contribute to the overall experience of your peers at The Duke MBA?

Although this essay question does not explicitly ask you to share your accomplishments, clearly you cannot express your contribution to the Duke MBA without this context. Of course, your accomplishments cannot stand alone either. You need to think of them thematically and then apply these experiences to the Duke MBA. In doing so, you have the opportunity to reveal your strengths and also your awareness of the program. A strong essay will truly connect you to the program and show that you have a nuanced understanding of the Duke experience/environment and that you indeed “fit” the school.

3. Discuss a person, event or experience that has significantly shaped your life and explain why. Note: The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally.

With respect to this question, take note of their note. In contrast, to the essay question above which offers an opportunity for you to discuss and apply your accomplishments, this one provides a place for you to explore your values. Duke leaves open a variety of possibilities via their request for a “person, event or experience.” You should ensure that you are not just offering an interesting biography or the history of an event, but that you apply the focal point of this essay to yourself. Indeed, the “shaping” aspect needs to be clear and the reader needs to understand the tangible impact that this person, event or experience has had on you. A good test of whether you are answering this question would be to consider whether you have presented a “before and after” scenario. Indeed, the reader will understand the impact if he/she can identify a clear change in your behavior and values after this life experience.

Long Essay - Answer the long essay question below.

Today, companies must navigate through complex and interdependent issues. They must deal with health and security matters, environmental impact questions, and diversity and cultural concerns.  Leaders need adaptability, imagination, and emotional intelligence as well as business acumen.

Upon graduation, a Duke MBA will be a leader of consequence - able to deal simultaneously with complex matters and engage skillfully with colleagues, clients, and community.  What impact do you hope to have as a leader of consequence?

The lead in for this question is quite long and is bound to confuse many applicants. So, in short, you need to reveal that in your career you will be able to engage multiple constituents and successfully navigate uncertain situations. Candidates may want to use this question to further explore issues that pertain to their proposed career, detailed in essay one, and show that they truly have a nuanced understanding of the demands of the job. Such a strategy could have the positive side effect of reinforcing your profound interest in your area of professional interest. While taking an industry specific approach to exploring future complexities can be successful, you could also consider broader issues that affect any industry, but show that you are particularly aware of them and will take them on in your own unique way.

CBS’s essay questions have changed dramatically from last year – all that remains is essay one, an old standby. What will be disappointing to some is the disappearance of the longstanding fourth essay on a passion – a surefire way to diversify an MBA candidacy and ensure that personality is revealed. Our analysis of CBS three essays follows…

What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals? (Recommended 750 word limit) : *

Because Personal Statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the “MBA Mission Personal Statement Guide.” We offer this guide to candidates free of charge, via our online store.  Please feel free to download your copy today. 

For additional information on the Columbia Business School experience, please consult the MBA Mission Insider’s Guide series.

Master Classes are the epitome of bridging the gap between theory and practice at Columbia Business School. View link below. Please provide an example from your own life in which practical experience taught you more than theory alone. (Recommended 500 word limit) :

View with Real Player: http://merlin.gsb.columbia.edu:8080/ramgen/video1/faculty/MasterClass-promo.rm

View via Google: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4698876883776961370&hl=en

CBS has replaced a fairly confusing question about how an MBA will prepare you for a rapidly changing world, (an essay that frustrated many applicants last year) with a far more straightforward question that (like last year) forces the reader to go online and learn about a facet of the Columbia experience – in this case, the Master Class. While the information itself is entertaining and educational, the video is only tangentially related to the core question, which requires you to describe a time when practice trumped theory. Candidates should resist the temptation to fawn on CBS and laud the Master Class and should instead focus on providing an example of such a case.

Although we noted that this question is more straightforward than last year’s, it will still be challenging to answer. An obvious starting point for candidates is to consider times when they have learned something theoretically. However, you need not only think of times when you were in a college classroom or some sort of corporate training event. You should expand your concept of theory to include all times when you were presented with orf considered ideas. Indeed, a commentator on TV or the fellow who owns the breakfast shop that you frequent (not to forget your own times of reflection and imagination) can all present valid theories that you have actually put into practice.

You should certainly show that you were/are open to ideas and that you are willing to test them. However, it is the process of testing that you, like CBS, should emphasize. So, if the first part of your essay is an explanation of how you were captivated by an idea, the second part should be the testing and learning. Clearly, we need to understand a contrast between these two phases in order to validate the argument that CBS presents. In this essay question, CBS does not explicitly ask for your key learnings, but it is appropriate for you to offer them nonetheless. By reflecting on your experience, you will emphasize the power of practice, in teaching/learning enduring lessons. 

Please provide an example of a team failure of which you’ve been a part. If given a second chance, what would you do differently? (Recommended 500 word limit) :

The crucial word in this essay question is “team.” Indeed, this is not a question about an individual failure. So, you should not attempt to stretch an essay about an individual failure to fit this question. You should, instead, attempt to identify a time when a team did not achieve its desired results (it will be important to “show” this time through a narrative structure) and analyze how and where the breakdown occurred, generally being diplomatic about assessing responsibility and sharing some of the “blame” yourself. 

It is important to note that a team failure does not need to be the story of a chaotic breakdown with people throwing chairs at each other. A failure can occur due to a passive approach to a problem – for example, the team does not understand its responsibilities and those senior to the team are not empowering the team to make choices. Regardless of the nature of the failure itself, it will be important for you to show that you have a nuanced understanding of the dynamics and that you are able to reflect and present a compelling theory (yes, theory!) for how you would have otherwise approached this situation.