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At mbaMission, we always encourage candidates to show their experiences rather than tell the reader conclusions. For example, a candidate may mistakenly choose to tell the reader, “I performed exceptionally well in my job and was promoted.” In this case, the reader is left wondering, “What exactly did he/she do so well to earn that promotion?” The reader needs to understand the whole story for the conclusion to be “proven.”

We find that candidates occasionally think they are providing the whole story when they are in fact offering only a single data point:

Example 1: “For me, as an avid paraglider, extreme sports are not just a hobby but a way of life.”

In this case, the conclusion—that the candidate “lives” for extreme sports—is not substantiated. One data point is not enough to “prove” this conclusion.

Example 2: “For me, as an avid paraglider and budding heli-skier, extreme sports are not just a hobby but a way of life.”

With the addition of the mention of a second activity, the applicant’s case becomes more compelling.

Example 3: “For me, as an avid paraglider, budding heli-skier and experienced cliff diver, extreme sports are not just a hobby but a way of life.”

This series of three examples makes the candidate’s passion for extreme sports undeniable.

Of course, we have used a simplified example here and would suggest that a candidate put his/her experience into action and show the passion via experience—“Leaping from a ten-meter cliff, I…”—depending on the context of the essay.

Are you interested in applying to business school? Could you use some help and advice from an admissions professional? Do you live in or near Paris, France? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then we want to meet you!

mbaMission senior consultants Liza Weale and Angela Guido will be in Paris, France, May 30 and June 3 doing  free, in-person, one-on-one consultations! If you would like to meet with Liza or Angela to get a head start on your MBA applications and have your most pressing questions answered, please email [email protected] to let us know what dates and times you are available on May 30 or June 3, and we will get back to you with scheduling information shortly!

Although many MBA programs are interested in hearing about your international experiences, they are fundamentally uninterested in your personal views on “hot” global political issues. Even when an admissions committee directly challenges you to discuss current events or global politics, you must take care to offer a point of view—not a scathing manifesto.

No clear rules exist as to what exactly you should discuss, but as you consider ideas, “knowing your audience” is of the utmost importance. Never take risks by discussing an economic, political, social or cultural idea that you believe an “average person” might find extreme. Of course, “extreme” is open to interpretation, and this is why choosing the issue you will discuss requires so much careful consideration. When you begin writing, keep in mind that you are not trying to win voters or recruit people to your cause—your goal is simply to show that you are engaged in the issues, can consider them in a balanced way and are able to articulate your ideas persuasively.

Update: Click here for the 2015-2016 Columbia Business School Essay Analysis 

This year, Columbia Business School (CBS) continues a trend that has developed over the past three seasons, once again reducing the number of words applicants can use to tell their story. Last year, CBS allowed applicants 200 characters with which to respond to its short-answer question and 1,250 words total for its three essays—not much room to showcase one’s strongest attributes and set oneself apart from the pack. Now CBS candidates have a mere 100 characters for the short-answer question and 1,000 words for the three essays.

Unfortunately, this reduced word count does not make your task as an applicant any easier—especially when you have only one essay (Essay 3) in which to discuss something outside the professional/academic realm and reveal your more personal side. Hopefully, our essay analysis can help you strategize…

Short Answer Question: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (100 characters maximum)

Do not pretend to be anything you are not. Reveal honest, ambitious goals that are also realistic.

These two sentences are 98 characters long. You can now see just how brief you need to be with CBS’s short-answer question. Yet you must still demonstrate that you can convey a point within such strict limits. So, we are sticking with the advice in our example. Do not misguidedly believe that admissions officers have a preference for specific professions or industries—they do not. Think about what you truly want to do with your career and state it directly. Then be sure that the rest of your application provides evidence that this goal connects to your existing skills and profound interests, making your professed goal achievable and lending credibility to your statement here. If you can do this in 100 characters—and remember that we are talking about characters, not words—you will have answered this question quite well.

Essay 1: Given your individual background, why are you pursuing a Columbia MBA at this time? (Maximum 500 words)

Because the CBS admissions committee is asking “why” you have chosen to pursue an MBA, you can justifiably delve into your professional career and explain how you identified your need for this particular advanced degree. However, take care not to overwhelm the admissions committee with an unnecessary level of detail about your career history. We cannot emphasize this strongly enough—the admissions committee does not want a recap of your entire resume—moreover, such detail would use up valuable word count. Approximately 100–150 words on your past should be enough to provide appropriate context.

You could perhaps offer an anecdote that reveals an academic or experiential void on your part, or explain that now is the right time for you because you have just completed a lengthy assignment and are ready to transition to the next phase of your career. A number of good reasons exist for wanting to earn your MBA now—just make sure that in your essay, the story of your progression is clear and you demonstrate the momentum and advancement that have brought you to this point. You will then need to explain how and why an MBA will serve as a bridge to the next level of your career. Notice that the school very specifically asks why you wish to earn a “Columbia MBA,” so you absolutely must incorporate into your essay elements of the CBS experience that are pertinent to your candidacy. Do not just list classes, but give a reasoned argument that explains how your goals, timing and CBS all intersect to make this the right time and the right experience for you.

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Although quantifying a school’s profile certainly does not tell you everything, it can sometimes be helpful in simplifying the many differences between the various MBA programs. Each week, we bring you a chart to help you decide which of the schools’ strengths speak to you.

The end of the academic year spells relief for students of all kinds, but those in business school know how to cap off the spring semester with comedic flare. As highlighted by Bloomberg Businessweek this week, students across various top-ranked business programs take part in the annual tradition of MBA Follies—writing, directing and performing sketches that capture the quirks and idiosyncrasies of their respective institutions and of MBA life at large.

Follies sketches are often posted on YouTube, so we thought taking a look at which 2013 productions are garnering the most acclaim might be interesting. As of today, Wharton’s “MBAs Assemble a Malm Bed from Ikea”—which envisions Wharton, Stanford GSB, Kellogg, Harvard Business School (HBS), Chicago Booth and INSEAD students trying their hand at Scandinavian furniture assembly—seems to be taking the lead, with more than 43,000 views (of course, Wharton’s large class size might have something to do with that). A trailer for the HBS parody of Mean Girls is the runner up, with nearly 2,500 views. Columbia Business School offered a spoof called “The Munger Games,” with nearly 2,000 views, which depicts MBA students competing for the chance to work under Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman, Charlie Munger. Cornell Johnson’s “Recruiting with Bain” (a play on the homophonous Batman villain) seems to be neck and neck with NYU Stern’s rap music video “Zacklemore.”

Other sketches that have surfaced on YouTube include Michigan Ross’s “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker,” UVA Darden’s nod to Dos Equis with “The Most Interesting Man in Business School,” MIT Sloan’s globetrotting trailer for “Where’s Rod?” and a number of sketches from Chicago Booth students, not least of which is “Admit Weekend at Bernie’s.” Popularity might not be the best measure of humor, but we think it is probably best that these aspiring comedians will have an MBA to fall back on.