“Although a native New Yorker, citing the city's value from an MBA application's perspective felt overwhelming. What I assumed to hold interest felt disconnected from the specific value that AO evaluates in the goals essay. The multiple examples constructed and written with unique motivations helped me see the smooth transitions inherent in the prose despite the diversity of the profiles covered in the sample essays. The previous year's PPIL essay was simple.

“I purchased the Essay guide after struggling with my 25 random things about me list. The life examples of widely different profiles and their journey helped me see ways in which I could capture my uniqueness. I very much enjoyed the notion of using humor and quirkiness in the list. Each entry was an exercise in finding stories from routine examples that were not routine for an outsider.

" Atul masterfully maps the curriculum from Booth's vast collection of electives and function-oriented themes for the goals essay. I found inspiration from unlikely profiles cited in the essay guide, particularly the social impact to the marketing career transition, which was unlike any motivation I had read. The example helped me see ways in which unconventional goals could be cited for Booth essays.

"I've read four books about writing, essays, and storytelling, but none of them are as good as Winning MBA Essay Guide. My drafts were filled with cliches and unintendedly funny moments that Atul pointed out in his reviews. When I went back and referred to the essay guide he had written, I knew what he meant. Whenever I was struggling to write the next line or paragraph, I read the samples. One trick that really helped me was reading Yale's commitment and Kellogg's value essays on top of Harvard's sample essays.

Since we collect the reviews offline, here are the reviews for F1GMAT's Stanford MBA Essay Guide for the 2023 Entering Class

This process will change the quality of your writing.

First Draft

The good news is that the school has limited the maximum word limit to 900 words. That is close to 2 pages. Most of the time, when I brainstorm with clients on editing their essays, so many sections are so sacred that suggestions to remove them are met with resistance. I know that feeling. When you write freely, there are lines, phrases, or paragraphs that are so beautiful that you feel that they would help you stand out.

When the average age of Entrepreneurs is 42 in the US, you know that a popular myth of the early 20s hood-wearing tech Entrepreneur is a narrative that works in Silicon Valley for the 1% who make it. For the rest of the 99% hood-wearing ramen noodles eating drifters, the 6-month ‘attempt’ at Entrepreneurship is soon followed by taking the routine 9-9 job. Business School’s expectation of entrepreneurial thinking is different from how a traditional Entrepreneur thinks.

The Executive in Residence program at Columbia Business School is a rare opportunity for students to gain one on one guidance from industry veterans and practitioners.

Another specific element of the Columbia MBA program that the school has hinted at highlighting in the fit essay is the learning clusters. Each person joining the MBA program is assigned to 65-70 people clusters that are further divided into 5-6 learning teams.

Essay#2: Cambridge MBA Difficult Decision Made

Describe a difficult decision that you had to make. What did you learn from this and how have you changed as a result? (up to 200 words)

Please provide details of your post-MBA career plans? (500 Words)

• What are your short and long term career objectives? How will the Cambridge MBA equip you to achieve these?

Welcome to F1GMAT’s #AskAtulJose series. Today’s question is a common dilemma that applicants face once they iterate through their essays a few times. The question is:

Q) I have put a lot of thought into the essay by working on the story, the transitions and feel that the final essay is heartfelt and impactful. But the problem is that the word count is 200 words over the 500-word limit. I really couldn’t shorten the essay. How should I start editing?

MBA Video Essay had some degree of success in the admission sphere over the past three years with the advent and growth of internet video as a popular viewing medium. Kellogg MBA Admissions team has just announced about a Video section in the application where students get 1-2 minutes to prepare for the question and 2-3 minutes to record their answer in video format.

We have compiled the Eight Best Practices for creating awesome MBA Application Video Essays.

Find out!

Q) Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the poor demand in the travel industry, I was laid off. There is a gap of 5 months in employment. How can I justify the gap without giving any excuse for my MBA Application?

Parents play an integral part in determining your world view, the habits, and the nudging to extra-curricular that eventually turned into unique strengths in your career and for your post-MBA goals. In MBA application essays, you must be strategic and thoughtful when quoting your parents.

Round 1 vs Round 2 - IMPACT of deferments

For students interested in the non-profit sector and who intend to join top MBA programs, the competition is high with the rising number of Social Entrepreneurs opting for an MBA program before expanding their initiative.  Having a well-defined post MBA goal is important to demonstrate motivation for top MBA program. 


Here are four factors that need to be highlighted in the Why MBA Essay