F1GMAT: Many MBA Admissions consultants profess about the power of storytelling and situational analysis in MBA Application Essays. What is your take on Story Telling? Will it help MBA applicants stand out from the rest of the crowd?
AdmissionsConsultants: Storytelling is definitely a good way to distinguish your candidacy from your competition. Amongst other advantages, effective storytelling can reach a reader’s emotions, educate, entertain and articulate creative thoughts. History’s most effective communicators have used stories and parables for these very reasons. Hence, it makes sense for applicants to use them when faced with the herculean task of distinguishing their candidacies against so many other very highly qualified applicants at the world’s most selective business schools.
Situational analysis is extremely important to b-school admission success as well. Showing strong introspection is the only way to ensure the admissions committees understand what you have learned from your previous experiences. Remember, it’s not enough to have a lengthy list of accomplishments and extracurricular activities. The schools aren’t interested in the “Forrest Gumps” who get through life by being lucky. After all, these programs are vigorously seeking out the next generation of business leaders and those are the very sharp individuals with intimate senses of cause and effect. Quite simply, they learn from their mistakes and are continually growing as individuals. Strategically using situational analysis inside of your stories is the best way to show that you are the type of applicant the admissions committees truly want.
About David Petersam
David Petersam is the president and founder of AdmissionsConsultants, Inc., launched in 1996. He graduated from the University of Chicago with an MBA.At
Chicago, he gained an insider’s knowledge of MBA admissions, working in
the admissions office there and contributing to admissions committee
decisions. Prior to his MBA studies, he was a Certified Public
Accountant.
On college and graduate admissions, Petersam has been
quoted in the New York Times, featured in T.V. and radio programs, and
has published a guest column in the Washington Business Journal.
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.
Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.