MBA Application

During the orientation session in a leading Business School, when MBAs were asked “Who among you are clueless about your short-term goals?”, 87% of the participants raised their hands. So much for clear post-MBA goals. AdCom would rather admit candidates who can articulate their goals than an aimless wanderer who look at professors or classmates for inspiration.

Find out the truth

When MBA Applicants are asked to write about conflicts and how they resolved it, they confuse conflicts with challenges. We have faced both in a professional environment, but challenges are more frequent in our daily work schedule. Learning about accounting is a challenge for someone new to the job but learning about accounting in two weeks or risk losing the job is a conflict – not with another person but oneself.


Here are three categories of conflicts that are worth mentioning in an MBA Application Essay

When was the last time you saw a movie and felt emotionally connected to the story? I bet the movie that you were impressed breaks away from the routine that we are all used to.

If we capture the same routine in our narrative, would it look interesting? 90% of writers cannot do it. How can you then include the routine or the obvious in MBA Application essays and expect to connect emotionally with the Admission Committee?

You can - Find out how!

“I was always good with numbers” - a promising MBA Aspirant wrote for The University of Chicago Booth School of Business MBA Application Essay. Agreed – the word limit has halved by 50%, and the numbers of essays have come down by 75% but that does not mean you communicate your strengths in 4-7 words.


Here is how you follow the “Show Don’t Tell” Approach

Admission Committee (AdCom) might squirm if you sound like a religious fundamentalist not because they do not respect your belief in a higher power, but MBA Application Essays are the last place that you expect a serious applicant, promoting his faith.

Some applicants have argued that their core values have been influenced by their religion. Fair Enough but with word limit, essays offer little space for explanation. Find out why spirituality works in MBA Application Essays

MBA Admission committee (AdCom) analyzes essay for two things: how you see yourself, and how you see the world.

For the applicant, the essay is his sales letter but for the Admission team the essay is just another attempt by the applicant to prove his fit for the school. With the acceptance rate in the range of 5-10%, AdCom is expecting a mediocre essay.

Your job with the essay is to break the expectation. Here is how you should include the Turning Point and Impress the Admission Team

Authority sparks images of God like figures dictating commands, and the obedient followers taking every word as the truth. For MBA Admissions team, this is not the definition of respecting authority. They are looking for your response to truth.

Lack of respect for authority can make you a great Entrepreneur, but Business Schools are conventional educational institutions with clearly defined authorities – professors, faculty members and school representatives.

Here is why Respecting Authority is Important in MBA Admissions

For working professionals, especially someone working in mid-level management or technical roles, getting dedicated time for essay writing is a rarity. But if you squeeze into the daily schedule, there are chunks of free time that you can turn into productive time for essay writing.

If you are driving, writing is not a feasible option, but if you have a recording app in your phone, dictate your thoughts.

Learn how to squeeze in the writing time

Most MBA AdCom members will have a resume, side by side with the essays, and they are verifying exaggerations, or dubious claims while reading your essays. The verification process is not limited to the information offered in the resume; student database, Wikipedia, job portals, blogs and Linkedin, offer copious amount of information about organizations, universities, companies, and job roles.


Here are 5 Common Exaggerations & Lies

Mental blocks are not limited to creative professionals but are common among MBA applicants. Mental blocks are primarily driven by the fear that your work would be mediocre. Some of the best writers would attest to the fact that the first few lines that they poured into paper were not their best. It’s the commitment to the craft, and the process of rewriting that differentiates a professional from an amateur.

We have shortlisted 5 tips to overcome mental blocks during MBA Application Writing Sessions

If you have ever reflected on stories and movies that had the potential but just could not live up to the novel idea, one thing becomes very clear – “lack of relevance.” The writer is so focused on making the story an intelligent one; she starts including sub-plots into an otherwise interesting narrative. This trend is not limited to movies and novels but also prevalent in MBA application essays. Read how to remove irrelevant details.

A common mistake that several Essay reviewers do is to over analyze the sentence structure, and edit sentences in such a way that the message is conveyed more succinctly. During the first iteration, this process might not be harmful for the essay, but when the reviewer completes the 2nd or 3rd iteration, the voice of the author will get lost.

Here is how you can maintain author's tone while editing

For Business Schools, the Failure Essay is an integral part in evaluating an MBA Applicant. AdCom wants to know how you reflect upon the sequence of events that led to failure, and how you handled the event. There are several reasons why AdCom wants to read attentively about your failure.

Find out 4 Reasons why the Essay is important!

Applicants assume that the AdCom will figure out the context, and understand the rationale behind the behavior, and the learning opportunity that the situation offered.

Not TRUE! 

Read More about Contexts in MBA Application Essays

With the new Business School Admission season starting, and the early deadlines, and essays announced, MBA applicants are wondering what Business Schools are trying to measure with questions about  strengths, weakness, failure, success, conflict, leadership and teamwork.

One answer – Emotional Intelligence. 

When you are part of a big organization, innovation is a buzzword for selling products. Other than that, you follow the rules of a traditional company with strict adherence to processes and quality guidelines, but even in a strict controlled environment, ideas sprout. Explaining the ideas devoid of any jargons and industry terms is a challenge.

Here is how to address innovation in your essays. 

It can be overwhelming to manage a team when there are several things that take the focus away from the goals. Good leaders have to remain calm, maintain perspective, and a good sense of humor amidst the chaos. In addition to that, leaders have to motivate and keep the spirits high.

Learn why maintaining focus is an important quality for a leader

The image of a leader that has been conveyed in popular culture is that of someone who is giving orders and is constantly planning something. Contrary to popular images, a big part of being an effective leader is having excellent listening skills. Learn how to mention your listening skills as a leader in MBA Application.

Many think that humility is the least associated quality with leadership. When you think about successful leaders, it is the image of vocal leaders that come to our mind. There is no harm in being vocal about goals, and principles. In fact, over communicating is a key skill that is required to lead a team. But humility by definition does not mean that you have to be meek.

Learn how to incorporate Humility in your Leadership Essay.

Personal responsibility does not come that often when you think about leadership qualities. It is always about “My Team didn’t perform well”, “We lacked coordination”, “Our communication was poor.” You can make all the excuses you want but if you are leading a team, the failure is because of one person – “You.” The team has given you the authority to lead. So how do you go about explaining failure as a leader in your essay?

Read about how to incorporate Personal responsibility in your essay.

Meeting Deadlines as a quality might seem trivial when compared to all the other general leadership qualities that we have seen in management and other self-help books but when you think about what makes a project successful, one key performance indicator that stands out is the ability of the team to achieve a goal in a particular timeframe. Learn more about different types of deadlines.