Most applicants start with an idealistic view of how the world should be and then work backward to break down why the world is in its current state. Such reasoning and bringing themselves to the narrative to fix the ‘problem’ with GSB is the most common structure I have seen while editing Stanford MBA Essays.
We have used it for:
· Bipartisan Media - Sample Stanford MBA What Matters Essay
· Stanford MBA Essay Example (Privilege to Serving Vulnerable)
· Sample Stanford MBA Essay What matters most to you (Systemic Solution)
Each essay first defines the problem and then expands on how we can solve the problem. The applicant is never positioned as the ‘hero’ but as a medium to achieve the ‘greater good’ of society.
While such a narrative works especially for the Type A candidates, there is a large percentage – I would estimate close to 40% who have personal goals that align with benefiting a smaller group of beneficiaries.
To create a believable What Matters Stanford MBA Essay, follow these three writing tips:
1) Empathetic Leader – Capture the tone
I could sense within the first 3 to 5 minutes if the person has the traits to be a GSB graduate. There is a certain calm determination only complemented by measured communication. No unnecessary comments or snide remarks. The focus is always on the problem and the people affected by the problem.
While passionately discussing the roadblocks, there is reasoning or an effort to understand the incentives of the stakeholders who were creating the problem.
For instance, I read a policy candidate working to bring Uber-like services to Goa, an anomaly in the modern tourist states. The stakeholders resisted the move as it affected the livelihood of hundreds of car owners who lend their vehicles to tourists for daily rent. The number of locals willing to drive around was small to meet the demand of the tourists. There were certainly political incentives, too, that prevented change. Such delicate topics need an empathetic leader who doesn’t go straight to scapegoating or villainizing. He did offer the solution by connecting two discrete issues that were the roadblock for the change.
Such understanding of incentives was communicated with a neutral tone while change narratives were all expressed passionately.
Switching between passionate plans and empathetic analysis is the trademark of an empathetic leader
Capture it when you write the Stanford What Matters Essay.
2) Identity
Technology certainly has dismantled traditional tribes on religion, culture, city, and country. It has created new identities on shared interests, cities applicants grew up in, and post-MBA goals.
Even in this new paradigm, each identity values certain goals and prioritizes beneficiaries based on their connection to that identity.
For an international applicant who had lived and worked in three countries, the country he was raised in from 4th to 8th grade felt closer as he could see the country transform while growing up. Along with the transformation, the country was severely limited by corruption. Digitization took away controls from these monopolizing powers – a truth the applicant learned while offering consulting solutions in the region. Now he wants to scale the solution in the healthcare industry that is offering solutions at lower than 20% efficiency. It was not the lack of funds but a lack of leadership that was keeping the country 10 years behind.
By sharing his fond memories as a child in the country, his experience as a consultant offering solutions in the region, and his desire to change the region, the What Matters Essay turned into a passionate plan, all based on the applicant’s identity.
3) Innovation – Current Trends
We can’t deny the fact that Stanford has the best curriculum and ecosystem for Entrepreneurship among M7 MBAs. The percentage of applicants that start the venture is close to 20%. With such peers, writing about innovation can feel intimidating.
Applicants with non-entrepreneurial goals focus on playing a part in the innovation without the entrepreneurship narrative.
To make it believable, the best strategy is to write about current trends. Each year has a focus.
2023-24 was all about Generative AI.
Writing about scaling generative AI or applying the technology to solve a problem in finance, education, healthcare, or technology is one way applicants are mixing current trends in MBA essays.
We also need innovation for problems that need significant resources and talent. Here are a few examples worth exploring:
Transitioning to green technology to combat climate change.
Working on policy to bring equity to all stakeholders in society across genders, ethnicity, and nationality.
- Regulating AI to protect the vulnerable in society
- Upskilling the low-income communities to face societal changes (automation)
- Addressing misinformation and the challenges of AI-driven misinformation for democratic societies
- Strengthening the pillars of democracy for an inclusive economy
