A common but effective narrative to demonstrate an applicant’s resilience is the setback and comeback narrative. Unlike movies where the comebacks are spectacular, and the protagonist overcomes armies of antagonists without even a scratch, believable narratives in Harvard MBA essays will have comebacks that are not complete.
While you build the narrative, follow these 4 ideas to create a believable essay for the Harvard MBA application:
1) Multiple Factors
Every mediocre narrative will have one cause that led to the fall of a business or a misstep that caused the setback. Apart from a once-in-50-year war or once-in-a-century pandemic, such spectacular downfalls don’t happen suddenly unless multiple forces create the disadvantage. The best examples clearly attribute the weakness to the supporting network of the applicant without putting the entire blame on the person. The attributions are measured, and the cause and effect are cited with empathy. Such careful use of language makes the essays unique from the comically simplistic “he did that, so this happened examples.”
2) Balanced Portrayal
In the Harvard MBA Sample Essay: Stoic Disregard for Setbacks, I had to be careful not to portray the applicant’s father as the primary cause of all the setbacks the applicant faced. To do this, in the first half of the essay, I highlighted the entrepreneurial spirit of the father that changed the fortune of the family. With risk-taking and entrepreneurship, the fortunes can shift dramatically. When I introduced the reversal of fortune coming from an addiction, the readers were well aware of the personality traits that made the father entrepreneurial and also hooked to an addictive substance.
3) Resilience With Support
The resilience to face setbacks is often what the school wants to learn about you. In a quest to make all essays like a hero’s journey, applicants forget to credit the supporting network that helped them face the shock. The support might not be complete, but it was critical for the person to survive the shock. This approach helped us show how an extended family in the US helped the applicant manage bankruptcy. Although the relatives couldn’t fund private school education, the support was nevertheless credited.
4) Creating Parallels
Highlighting personal resilience is an effective way to show how you survived a war or a financial setback, but if you had a similar experience professionally, combining the two examples into a setback and comeback theme is a way to capture resilience holistically.
