MBA Application

In this in-depth MIT Sloan MBA essay and cover letter tips, I cover:

In this MBA Application Essay Writing Tips Series, I will share 4 shortcuts for Creating MBA Essay First Drafts.

1) No Word Limit Writing

For anyone in Finance, Technology or Consulting, this exercise might seem counterintuitive but the best way to improve you chance of writing memorable essays is not to write less but write at least 2000 words even if the word count of your school essays is 250 to 500 words.

For applicants, consider these 3 factors:

A big misconception applicants have is around the value of an Admissions Consultant.

I get this question quite a lot – are you an MBA?

Does an MBA Admissions Consultant be an MBA Alum?

The question shows that the applicant is at the early stage of researching consultants.

This is the #1 mistake I see while editing resumes of high-performing applicants. These are your typical Type A candidates who truly have achievements in the top 1 or top 5%, but they also have experiences as individual contributors that are not as significant. But it had a huge impact on the learning curve and their growth as a specialist.

I see 3 insecurities that are driving the exaggeration.

When I reach out to clients to check on the progress of their MBA essays, they often complain about the biggest obstacle – how should I reflect and capture the pivotal events in my life?

Before you trivialize or dramatize any event from your life, follow these 5 reflection tips:

1) Memory Trap

2) Detached Attention

3) The Conflict Conversation

Capturing sad moments in MBA essays can seem manipulative. But when you write the first draft, don’t worry about censoring such thoughts.

Remember these 4 points while capturing sad moments:

1) Emotion vs. Mood

2) Personal Loss

3) Sad Moments and Identity

Thinking about the structure while drafting MBA essays is not recommended but choosing themes that have universal appeal is essential to get the most out of the writing process.

Write freely, but use these three themes when you feel that you are getting lost in the writing process:

In the US, the immigrant population is still driving most of the startups in Silicon Valley. From an admissions perspective, schools must maintain diversity in nationality. The competition is between Permanent Residents vs. H1B visa holders, vs. International Entrepreneurs or startup candidates. And quite often, schools prefer those already in the US over someone from another country.

International entrepreneurial applicants and candidates with extensive startup experience understand this preference. They try to differentiate themselves and quite often make these two mistakes:

Storytelling is an outline of your relationship with time, world, future, and yourself. 

The inner conflict between your ego and the challenge put forward by the outside world is similar to the turmoil that the reviewers go through on a daily basis while reviewing your essays or pondering over their future. 

When the story is about your life journey, the essay should demonstrate why you are interesting. Focus on 5 Strategies:

1. Differentiate Just Enough

In a slow job market where competition for top MBA programs increase, applicants from the technology, finance, and consulting industries must bring their A game to demonstrate uniqueness. 

Before you draft an essay or prepare for your interview, understand what is considered unique in MBA Admissions:

If “We”, a word used sparsely during questions about success, is frequently used when the topic is about Failures, the blame game has already started.  

Before you draft an essay or a script for the failure narrative in interviews, understand:

1) Question the Status Quo

We have collected the Essays of the Top 50 MBA programs for the 2026 Entering class.  In this in-depth essay analysis of the top 50 MBA applications, we cover:

As the program with the highest application volume, Harvard must differentiate between two applicants with similar scores (GMAT/GRE and GPA). 

In your application (essay, resume, and recommendation letter), make sure that these 10 traits are highlighted.

1. Experience

   2.  Preparedness

   3.  Learning