{"id":33580,"date":"2022-05-17T13:38:08","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T17:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=33580"},"modified":"2022-05-17T13:38:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T17:38:08","slug":"a-new-guide-for-those-stuck-on-the-gsb-and-hbs-essay-prompts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/a-new-guide-for-those-stuck-on-the-gsb-and-hbs-essay-prompts\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Guide for Those Stuck on the GSB and HBS Essay Prompts\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wmwm-cover.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-30205 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wmwm-cover-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"mbaMission Publishes New Essay Guide for GSB and HBS Applicants\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wmwm-cover-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wmwm-cover-791x1024.jpg 791w, https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wmwm-cover-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/wmwm-cover.jpg 816w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/a>As we turn the page on a new business school admissions season, you might be one of the thousands of applicants wondering exactly what you will end up communicating to the admissions committees in your application essays. Those who plan to apply to Harvard Business School (HBS) or the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB)\u2014two of the world\u2019s most prestigious business school programs\u2014might be especially nervous; HBS and the GSB have continuously vexed applicants with open-ended prompts:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><em><strong>\u201cAs we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Harvard Business School) <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/i><em><strong>\u201cWhat matters most to you, and why?\u201d<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span> <strong>\u201cWhy Stanford?\u201d <\/strong><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Stanford Graduate School of Business)\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We at mbaMission are proud to offer our <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.mbamission.com\/products\/what-matters-and-what-more\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>\u201cWhat Matters?\u201d and \u201cWhat More?\u201d: 50 Successful Essays for the Stanford GSB and HBS (and Why They Worked)<\/i><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> guide written by Jeremy Shinewald, Founder\/President of mbaMission, and Liza Weale, Founder of Gatehouse Admissions, in partnership with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poets&amp;Quants<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having helped hundreds of candidates gain acceptance to HBS and the GSB, Jeremy and Liza have pooled their collective experience to analyze a carefully curated collection of 50 successful essays to both schools, breaking down why each essay worked. The result is a truly essential guide to crafting essays confidently and effectively.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat Matters?\u201d and \u201cWhat More?\u201d: 50 Successful Essays for the Stanford GSB and HBS (and Why They Worked)<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> offers the following:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Actual HBS and Stanford GSB essays, submitted by past candidates who were ultimately admitted, along with expert commentary on the strengths (and sometimes weaknesses!) of each one<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ten \u201cpairs\u201d of essays for HBS and the GSB, showing how the same candidate approached the two schools\u2019 differing essay prompts<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two essays by reapplicants, highlighting useful tactics for writing these essays the second time around<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overviews and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-get-into-harvard-business-school-hbs-essay-tips-and-examples\/\">examples of four different approaches you can take to composing your essays:<\/a> thematic, inflection points, single anecdote, and mosaic<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Best practices for each essay question, such as how to handle the prompts\u2019 vastly different word counts and what not to include in your essays<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The guidance, samples, and critiques in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat Matters?\u201d and \u201cWhat More?\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will help you find the best approach for sharing your strongest stories with these programs\u2014and position yourself for success!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you plan to apply to HBS or the Stanford GSB, this digital guide is a must-have resource, and it is on sale now for <\/span><em><strong>just $24<\/strong><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (from $60). <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.mbamission.com\/products\/what-matters-and-what-more\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Purchase your copy today<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014and be sure to <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/consult\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contact us<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if you are interested in speaking one-on-one with an mbaMission expert admissions consultant via a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/consult\/mba-admissions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">free 30-minute consultation<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we turn the page on a new business school admissions season, you might be one of the thousands of applicants wondering exactly what you will end up communicating to the admissions committees in your application essays. Those who plan to apply to Harvard Business School (HBS) or the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB)\u2014two &hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/a-new-guide-for-those-stuck-on-the-gsb-and-hbs-essay-prompts\/\">Read&nbsp;More&nbsp;&nbsp;<i class=\"fal fa-sm fa-angle-right\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,25,29],"tags":[233,235],"class_list":["post-33580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-application-tips","category-harvard-hbs","category-stanford","tag-harvard-business-school","tag-stanford-gsb"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A New Guide for Those Stuck on the GSB and HBS Essay Prompts\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Those who plan to apply to Harvard Business School (HBS) or the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) might be especially nervous.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/a-new-guide-for-those-stuck-on-the-gsb-and-hbs-essay-prompts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A New Guide for Those Stuck on the GSB and HBS Essay Prompts\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Those who plan to apply to Harvard Business School (HBS) or the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) might be especially nervous.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/a-new-guide-for-those-stuck-on-the-gsb-and-hbs-essay-prompts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"mbaMission - 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