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Understanding MBA application requirements early gives you a major competitive advantage. Top programs such as Harvard Business School, UPenn Wharton, and Columbia Business School receive thousands of strong applications each year, and small strategic decisions—including when to take your admission test, how to frame your story, and whom to ask for a recommendation—often separate admitted … Read More  

When business school candidates read an essay prompt, they often interpret it quite literally. For example, when a school asks applicants a multipart question such as “What will you contribute to our school’s community, and how will being part of it help you extend your professional vision?,” many applicants assume they must answer the subquestions … Read More  

You may have heard the old journalistic maxim “Show, don’t tell,” which demands that writers truly illustrate the actions involved in an event or a story rather than simply stating the results of what happened. Here is an example of “telling” (results oriented): “I arrived at ABC Bank and took on a great deal of … Read More  

Most high school students in the United States are taught to write essays that have a formal introduction, a body that supports that introduction, and a conclusion that reinforces the main point presented in the introduction. Although this approach and structure yield easily comprehensible academic work, business school application essays are constrained by word count—so … Read More  

A common mistake we see in our clients’ MBA application essays is the misuse of the verb “lead.” A deeply entrenched and widespread misunderstanding seems to exist as to which spelling connotes present tense and which connotes past tense. One of our consultants even had a client raise their voice in passionate defense—of the wrong … Read More