When clients seek my help in writing essays, the first thing I observe after evaluating their strengths and weaknesses is the jargon-filled language they use to communicate what they do.
I always start with, "I am a beginner trying to learn about your industry".
Teach me what you do.
The questions I ask are frustrating. Some might think that I am playing Kubrick, prodding the applicant to quit, but we are so immersed in our world that we forget that there is a general public that doesn't understand a word we say.
You might argue that an MBA Admissions team is not the general public. I agree, but simplicity in language has higher recall and potential for persuasion.
Without recall and ability to touch the eight markers of persuasive writing, it is tough to differentiate from the military applicant or the hedge-fund guy who built homes in Haiti.
Stop using one-liners like these:
"Sold highly-leveraged financial products."
"Developed the messaging architecture for a Global Fashion Giant."
"Designed and developed a communication solution for one of the Fortune 500 companies"
The unlearning is tough.
One way to break out of your bubble is by creating a blog. You don't have to publish it. If you do - use an alias and test your writing style with an engaged community like the Medium.
What should you write about?
Write about your industry. This time the audience is not your peers but the general public. See if they can connect with you.
The claps and comments are an indication of your reach, but the exercise of dumbing it down for the general public will develop the muscle to write in simple English.
Assuming that you will start writing the essays by June/July, you have three months to develop this vital skill.
Some high-priority activities for March:
1) Fix a GMAT Test date. Schedule the test for the last week of May as you would have some breathing space to retake the GMAT if the total score falls below 730 or the balance in Quant and Verbal scores breaks out of the ten percentile/points window.
2) Target a balanced score (92+ percentile for both Quant and Verbal)
3) Open an Account in Medium or any other blogging platform that has an engaged and mature audience
4) Write about your industry. Replace jargons with simple phrases.
5) Keep writing every day - 200 to 300 words for 90 days.
The 90-day challenge will change your life. Trust me.
More tips to improve your writing with Winning MBA Essay Guide
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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.