One of the biggest challenges I found while editing essays for Consortium applicants is in differentiating the struggles. It is shocking but unsurprising to see how common the thread of the story is for each applicant who had to face the inter-generational consequences of racism.

Every applicant from the community has some story of extreme prejudice or systemic suppression of opportunities or now AI’s faulty training data perpetuating historical inaccuracies and ignorance.

Harvard MBA Essay Tips – African American Applicants

For the Harvard MBA Essay, while narrating systemic issues, limitations of algorithms,  and potential solutions to address gaps in addressing problems of African American communities, make sure that you include these 3 steps:

1) Include the Stereotypical experience but Personalize it Early On

The challenges of living in a dangerous neighborhood, grandparents raising you, or the destructive influence of peers with no goals have all been written to death. Many, fearing that the narrative might turn into another black story, try to edit them. The trick in Harvard MBA Essay is personalizing those stories with unique personal moments.

For the Sample Harvard MBA Essay - Gaming for Good, I captured a moment of interaction between the applicant and the mother, who was an addict. The moment has no cliches of a person with an addiction but a genuine love and warmth that a mother has for a child. Such moments open up the reviewer to your story.

2) The Hero

Every black applicant with the credentials and ambition to apply to Harvard Business School had a hero. It could be grandparents or a mentor or a teacher or a coach. Expressing gratitude for the hero in the middle of the essay is one way to show how you appreciate the key players who helped you rise above the limitations.

3) Solution

The trauma or the struggle of childhood will remain a tragic reflection of your life’s journey if you haven’t captured some unique insights from it. A big reason why some of the billion-dollar initiatives don’t turn around impoverished black neighborhoods is that these are solutions offered by Consultants doing top-level visits without genuinely understanding the ground realities. Your perspective as a black applicant might be insights never captured in any publications or newspapers. For the Sample Harvard MBA Essay, Gaming is presented in a new light to turn around a neighborhood's bad influences and introduce financial incentives to do good.

Helicopter consultants could not have offered such unique thinking. The intriguing case study on incentive, leveraging technology, and understanding black culture is an approach to balancing your struggles with solutions that benefit black communities.

Read: Sample Harvard MBA Essay - Gaming for Good (Black Applicant)