Blog: Archive for the “Application Tips” Category

Virtually every week, as part of our Monday Morning Essay Tip, we offer a “how to” and a “how not to” example. This week, we cannot offer a simple illustration, because our focus is on humor, which is nuanced and can be deemed appropriate only with a full understanding of the context in which it … Read More  

Candidates often worry about exceeding schools’ requested word limits, even by a mere word or two. Although we certainly believe that staying within the stated limits is best and advise candidates to do so, we also feel that admissions directors are rational individuals who are not unnecessarily punitive. We have a difficult time imagining that … Read More  

Recently, a prospective business school candidate emailed mbaMission with the following question: “What is the most basic stylistic error that candidates make when writing their MBA application essays?” Our answer: unnecessary repetition. Although repeating a word within a single sentence or in consecutive sentences does not constitute a grammatical mistake, it can still be grating … Read More  

English, thankfully, is a language without many gender-related problems, but some do exist, and being gender neutral in MBA application essays can be important. In general, a key way to avoid such problems is to pluralize—to talk about groups rather than individuals. Consider the following examples: a. “Today’s manager must be financially literate to do … Read More  

One way to save words in your application essays and short-answer responses is to pluralize nouns whenever possible. Singular words often require an article such as “a,” “an” or “the.” These words can add unnecessarily to your word count and can clutter your page without contributing to your argument or style. Consider the following example: … Read More