In this Stanford MBA Application Tips series, I will show how to use one of the Emotional Vocabulary – Anxiety, to transform your Stanford MBA What Matters Most to You and Why Essay.
The largest demographic, which is close to 35% at Stanford MBA, is from Technology and Finance. The two industries are mostly dealing with numbers or algorithms or jargon that are super specialized in a particular function. This could be a problem when you write the What Matters Stanford MBA application Essay. One repeated and effective narrative is the Journey of the Applicant to Overcome Anxiety.
Anxiety as a Hindrance to Personal Growth
One great example I have read is about a person who was extremely conscious about reaching out to experts. This came from a wrong philosophy of self-reliance that his father taught him from an early age. Any expression or vulnerability in seeking help was considered a weakness.
He had this drive to educate people outside Finance about the fundamentals of investing. Although he started his podcast in a ‘how To’ format, he wanted experts to join his podcast. This was way back when he was doing his undergraduate degree. So in the Essay, he captured that moment of anxiety of picking up the phone and calling the ‘expert’ for an interview. The description was covered in probably 3 sentences, but just because he used an emotional vocabulary of Anxiety in the narrative, suddenly, this Private Equity professional who had an impressive career on paper looked more human. There was an aspect of his story that was not captured in the resume or the recommendation letters.
I have read accounts of performance artists, despite impressive awards, facing panic attacks just before a show. And this also translated to an interesting narrative on how to manage the worst fears, and a few were even able to connect to how this fear started.
Such narratives expand into the neighborhood, parents, caregivers, and the worldview with which the applicant grew up. An anxiety narrative is a great way to include your journey and capture all the influencing factors that made you who you are rather than writing it as a statement, which is the worst way to write your MBA application essays.
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Managing Anxiety in Communities
Another narrative that establishes leadership traits and an impact-oriented mindset in an applicant is articulating the anxiety of the beneficiaries. The beneficiary could be those affected by War, Famine, Climate Change, and inequalities in accessing education, energy, water, and democratic institutions.
Some of the anxiety about genocide, racism, climate change, and systemic corruption cannot be managed by a single Stanford MBA candidate, but when the anxiety of the beneficiaries is quoted as a motivation for long-term goals or starting a venture, the What matters Stanford narrative would perfectly complement the Why Stanford MBA essay. Plan your essays accordingly.
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