Blog: Archive for the “MBA Essay Tips” Category

The University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business takes a very traditional approach to its application essay questions. For the first required essay, applicants must detail their immediate short-term career goal—without much elaboration, given the submission’s mere 100-word limit. The second required essay can be as long as 600 words, and candidates are … Read More  

The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) requires only one official written essay of its applicants, and it is a rather brief one on a difficult decision. However, candidates can submit a short optional statement as well, if they wish, and are tasked with responding to several short essay-type questions within the body of the … Read More  

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business has only one required written application essay. For it, the school asks applicants to discuss how they have promoted inclusion and how they expect to apply their related skills and mind-set at Tepper. Candidates are also tasked with recording a brief video about their post-graduation aspirations. Applicants who … Read More  

Applicants to the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas (SMU Cox), must submit two required essays, with one being largely a traditional personal statement and the other asking candidates to share five things about themselves that they would like their future classmates to know. Applicants who feel they need a … Read More  

INSEAD candidates must respond to four short career-focused queries (a fifth one is optional) and provide three motivation essays (with an optional fourth).  Applicants are also tasked with completing a video component for which they answer four questions as four separate video recordings. Given the total number of prompts, tasks, and questions involved, some candidates … Read More