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Applicants to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School must first provide their rationale for pursuing an MBA and have 250 words with which to do so. The school’s second required essay also has a 250-word limit, where candidates must discuss which of the school’s core values align most closely with … Read More  

Although some top business schools have been gradually reducing the number of application essays they require, the University of Cambridge Judge Business School still demands four separate submissions from its candidates. The program’s first essay is about applicants’ career goals and related preparation, the second focuses on a “professional mistake” and the candidate’s analysis of … Read More  

London Business School (LBS) has been posing the same core application essay question since 2015—one that largely constitutes a traditional personal statement—so the admissions committee must feel that the prompt elicits what it wants to know when evaluating candidates for the next class. More recently, the school added a second, albeit short, required essay, for … Read More  

We at mbaMission often tell candidates, “You cannot turn a bad idea into a good essay.” We insist on taking our clients through a lengthy brainstorming process—starting with a thorough questionnaire—to discover the stories that make them distinct. As you uncover your stories, consider each one from as many different angles as possible. Doing so … Read More  

If you do mostly short-term, project-based work, you might struggle with how to structure your resume so that it does not give the impression that you switch jobs every few months. If you list each job separately, not only will your resume be too long, but you also run the risk that your reader will … Read More