Happy memories appear in MBA essays predominantly in two places - as a memory snapshot in the opening line or a way to resolve the essay into a future full of possibilities.
Before you incorporate the ‘happy memories’ in MBA Essays, understand these four contexts:
1) Happy Memory from Childhood
2) Achievements and Happy Memories
3) What More Can I do for the Beneficiary
4) Hardship and Finding a Silver Lining
1) Happy Memory from Childhood
The best examples are the Haas Makes you feel alive essays where applicants narrate childhood moments, far away from the hustle of growing up. These examples touched a chord because of the ‘tender’ moments the applicant scavenged from their deep memory.
The more individualistic the ‘scenery’ is around the unique happy memory, the more likely the reviewer will connect with you.
A client narrated the ‘farms’ of his village - a snapshot of the daily rituals and behaviors of the simple life. For a moment, I forgot his ‘great’ accomplishments and entered into a different world. But such a ‘happy memory’ was strategically placed to show the contrast of the responsibilities.
A simple childhood contrasted with managing multi-billion-dollar projects.
The first draft with happy memory works according to the type of essay questions.
Happy Memory in Opening Line
For the Berkeley what makes you feel alive essay like this one example where the applicant shares her earliest memory of learning to fly, the excitement is captured by narrating the switches and gauges in the cockpit. That was the awe-inspiring moment for a child.
Genuine memories win over great prose
Another client shared how his father put him in his lap and drove the car through a small road leading up to the parking garage. The happy ritual turned into an interest in cars that eventually led him to a career in automobile engineering.
Every line will seem like a stretch until you put in honest writing into the draft. That is a reason why applicants who are overly analytical, desperately seeking patterns in winning essays or incessantly asks forums, friends and family, loss out to applicants who are genuinely trying to capture their authentic memories.
Happy Memory in Closing Line
If you have read the essay examples with W-Pattern illustrations in F1GMAT’s Essay Guides, you know the science behind resolving to a happy ending or a happy memory. It is fundamental to any story structure. The reason why a goals essay always ends with a happy moment of painting a future full of possibilities is to demonstrate enthusiasm.
A similar ‘happy moment’ should be captured when you talk about long-term goals or working on a goal that will benefit a large group of beneficiaries.
End with a possible happy memory when you talk about missions or a future with the school.
2) Achievements and Happy Memories
I would say this is the trickiest part when you capture happy moments in draft essays.
What you consider to be an achievement could be a routine accomplishment for a competitive peer.
An Achievement could be a Routine Accomplishment for a Competitive Peer
An applicant brilliantly offered context while explaining ‘Why a B+ grade in English was brilliant’ in his 5th grade.
Coming from a village where English was not the first language, the applicant had a string of misses, with the teacher even advising them to consider dropping out and pursuing a ‘native’ language stream.
He narrates a quote from his father on not giving up.
The ‘smile’ of his father when he shared a B+ grade in English was a happy moment. And it worked brilliantly because the applicant took great pain in capturing the cultural, familial and the antagonist’s (this case the teacher) perspectives in the draft.
Role of Antagonist
Antagonist need not be represented as villains.
It could be any opposing force. Even circumstances.
Without opposing forces and circumstances, there is no story.
Unique essays stand on stories.
Although eventually we used two lines from the draft, those two lines brought authenticity to the essay. It is critical that you capture all the scenery, emotions and circumstances around the happy memory.
You never know what an editor/essay specialist can do unless you share the verbose version of the draft with the essay specialist.
3) What More Can I do for the Beneficiary
The best happy moments in MBA essays are all about others.
It could be a person you love and know, a beneficiary you mentored, or a group of beneficiaries whose life you have changed with your time.
I have read essays of applicants helping elderly citizens take care of their routine needs to feeling empowered just by being part of the culture.
I have read inspiring stories of applicants thinking two steps ahead of what is expected of them.
It doesn’t matter how you have helped someone. Capture the emotion behind the deed.
Good MBA essays always have something extra.
Not just the emotions. It all ties down to ‘what more’ the person wants to do.
4) Hardship and Finding a Silver Lining
Perhaps the most unique and inspiring way to put across hardship is to phrase it with a positive memory.
An applicant shared how his interest in selling all began with his childhood career promoting his uncle’s restaurant. The first line was his early duty to manage his twin sisters while his mother was on a second job.
We captured the hardship, but the narrative was all about the positive memories, even during the hardship. In that draft, not a single line expressed self-pity. And that is the beauty of great essays where hardship is clearly a sub-theme. There are positive memories even in adversaries.
Another essay was about losing several games in a row in a college series. And the whole essay was about persistence.
Each failure had a positive memory, and by the iteration, when things turned around, I felt connected to the applicant who could see hardship and failure in a completely different way than an average person would do.
Such thinking is tough and unique for a world where the changes and risks seem overwhelming.
When long-term MBA goals are ambitious and on changing how we transact, travel, or build infrastructure, schools need such thinkers and doers who can find positive memories even in hardships.
