Blog: Archive for the “Essays” Category

Many business school candidates take a straightforward, historical approach in their personal statement essays. Although this can be an easy way to organize your essay, it could deprive you of an opportunity to capture your reader’s interest with a more focused and gripping introduction. Nothing is fundamentally wrong with taking a historical approach, of course, … Read More  

The application essay requirements for the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame are fairly straightforward—or at least the written one is. To start, you must provide a statement that presents your career goals and discusses how the school can help you achieve them. You also need to craft a slide presentation … Read More  

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business has only one required written application essay, and applicants are given a choice of two prompts to respond to. The first asks candidates to discuss a time when they navigated a complicated situation, and the second tasks applicants with explaining how they will use the Tepper program to … Read More  

The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) requires two 400-word essays of its applicants. The first essay’s topic—“tell us your story”—is so open-ended that it will likely be challenging for some candidates, especially considering the limited word count. IMD’s second essay is more traditional, asking applicants what they hope to gain from the program. Candidates … Read More  

The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin requires two brief yet revelatory written essays from its applicants. Combined, the essay prompts cover the core topics of why you need an MBA, why you want to attend McCombs, what you value, and how you will contribute. For the program’s first essay, … Read More