The brand of Harvard Business School is one of global leadership. Even the school’s mission, “We educate leaders who make a difference in the world” drives home the point that Harvard places a high premium on leadership. So the most important takeaway to any applicant applying to HBS: be clear of your brand as it relates to your leadership track record, potential, and aspirations.
Here are a few suggestions for applicants on how to approach their HBS essays:
1. Tell us about three of your accomplishments. (600 words)
The accomplishment essays have been around forever. There is a reason the school hasn’t changed them for over a decade. Candidates with accomplishment essays that are viewed as unimpressive will not make the cut.
Surprise Them: Stop and think how many times a board member can read about another mentoring gig, multi-billion dollar deal you supposedly ran despite being an analyst, not to mention the marathon you ran or the charity you helped bail out. Be aware that by the time the board member has read the 775th story covering the same topics they may be ready to pluck their eyeballs out! Even if you are confined to using some of these usual suspect examples, be creative and put your own unique perspective to it. Don’t be afraid to share achievements that you genuinely care about even if they are unusual, unexpected, even, quirky, as long as they showcase your brand.
Mix it Up: Remember the fact that you are a three dimensional person with varied interests and life experiences. Don’t just pick stories from one area of your life alone, cast a wide net. As you begin to brainstorm, pick 3 examples each from your personal, professional, community and academic life. Then assess how compelling each of them is. Ask yourself whether it is the best example to reinforce your brand theme (an element of your life you wish to share) and if you are better off using that example for a different essay with more word length. Be strategic as you pick and choose what topics to cover for the accomplishment essays.
Show some heart: Reveal why the accomplishments matter to you. The “why” of the stories are as important as the “what” because they introduce the reader to your motivations, values, allowing you to share the elements of your brand that matter to you.
2. Tell us three setbacks you have faced. (600 words)
This year Harvard Business School has ditched their mistake essay for the three setbacks you have faced essays. Setbacks can often be tied to achievements that challenged you significantly before you attained the objective. Therefore, by their very nature, they can be positive and reveal great turnaround results. You can cover topics that reveal personal setbacks or setbacks that involve working on a team. It’s best to combine two examples from a team context and one from your personal life. Feel free to switch it around if you have more compelling examples of personal setbacks that reinforce a bigger message you wish to communicate about your brand. Ultimately, underlying the setback questions is the admissions board’s desire to assess your resilience, self awareness, and maturity.
• Don’t Whine, complain or blame others. Take responsibility and own your role if you had something to do with the setback happening. If it was out of your control, make sure that in telling the story you maintain an upbeat tone.
• Be Strategic. Just like the accomplishment essays, these can also cut across the different parts of your life and shouldn’t be limited to just your professional experiences.
• Focus on what is important. Good setback essays reveal your character and self growth. Don’t just focus on the setback. Share what you learned and how it developed you as a person/professional. A good example should have a turnaround element to it. For example, address what happened after you hit the wall. Did you push through towards your objectives or did you throw in the towel? 
Learn the secrets for creating standout essays for business school applications. The guide analyzes the qualities that Harvard Business School is seeking, dissects their application and provides pointed tips as well as samples from successful essays.
Download Harvard MBA Essay Guide (44 pages)
3. Why do you want an MBA? (400 words)
This year Harvard has moved away from the career aspiration question to asking why you want the degree. The emphasis here is to understand your motivations. “What is it that you want to do (career vision/goals/aspirations) and why do you feel a MBA is necessary” is the way I would rephrase this essay. It’s not critical to have a short term and long term goal mapped out. However you should have a general sense of where you ultimately would like to end up. For instance, what attracts you about the health care industry given the deals you have worked on in that space, the opportunities/challenges that exist in the industry and why you think your vision to lead a health care company warrants an MBA given your lack of operational skills or whatever else you feel you lack that will help you succeed as a leader in that space.
• Show that you have a clear sense of where you want to end up with your career.
• Paint a realistic picture of what the MBA can actually do for you to help you get to your ultimate goal.
• Communicate that the MBA is actually necessary not just a nice to have.
4. Answer a question you wish we’d asked. (400 words)
This essay replaces the “Introduce yourself to your class essay” from last year. This essay, if used strategically can be a powerful essay for applicants in differentiating themselves from their competition. I’m not a fan of using this essay just to address weaknesses like low GMAT/GPA, gaps in job tenure, etc. Think long and hard about whether this is the best place to share this information. It may be a better strategy to use such stories as one of your setback essays (200 words versus 400 words). Most people can use this essay to further drive home their brand message, especially to cover an important topic that they have not had a chance to address yet. If for example part of your brand is that you are someone who is quite humorous, a tasteful treatment of a topic that reveals your humor can be a good use of this essay.
• See where all the elements are to your brand. Is something missing? This is where you want to cover that.
• The first and last thing you read tends to stay with you. Leave the adcom with a memorable and interesting story that has them cheering for you. Don’t put them to sleep!
Chioma Isiadinso is a former Harvard Business School admissions board member and a former director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon University. She is the CEO of EXPARTUS®, LLC, a global admission consulting company, and the author of The Best Business Schools’ Admissions Secrets. Follow EXPARTUS® Facebook LinkedIn Twitter