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:
4) Don’t Dwell on the Sad Moments
1) Emotion vs Mood
A lot of time applicants try to narrate one incident as the ‘defining’ moment. The trouble with such an approach is that these are examples were the emotion were experienced momentarily but passed when the person reconciled with the person causing the sad emotion. There are no sustaining qualities of the interaction that led to the ‘sad’ moment - at least not for writing an MBA essay.
Avoid momentary emotions as a pivotal moment for MBA essays.
Mood on the other hand is the result of your mind not getting out of the event or person that led you into that emotional state. It lasts for a longer period. No one goes into a sad mood unless there are underlying truth, discrimination and epiphany in the interaction. These epiphanies could show a mirror into how society interprets the person or a culture or a region or an ethnicity.
Because we humans have short memory, what you think as a sad moment are actually events, people and decisions that led you into a sad mood.
Admission Consultant’s Tip: Always prioritize ‘mood’ over ‘emotion’.
2) Personal Loss
I have read essays of extremely personal details that eventually didn’t make it to the final essays, but the process of opening up to the admissions team and sharing a personal loss is a great way to connect with a person who you have never seen.
We are attuned to the concept of loss across cultures. Some of the universal concepts of feeling a sense of loss are:
Losing a parent.
Losing one’s child.
Losing a sibling
Losing one’s land
Losing one’s livelihood.
Losing one’s sense of self.
Losing one’s sense of belonging.
The problem I have observed is that the applicant tries to associate the loss experienced by a parent or a close relative with their loss.
This is a great way to demonstrate empathy, but in any personal MBA essay, where the essay prompt contains ‘you’ is a hint that you must be the protagonist.
3) Sad Moments and Identity
It is safe to use a universally disadvantaged identity while capturing sad moments.
If the tone and the nature of the tragedy clearly affect one historically victimized ethnic group or identity (gender, sexual orientation, economic status, disability, family upbringing), you may confidently bring that example into the first draft.
The struggles can evoke strong emotions and empathy towards the identity, provided the information shared is validated with other information in the application, including details of the family and education.
I have experienced this a few times when clients try to bring economic instability into the narrative. Most of the sad moments are small blips in an otherwise stable family structure or economic status. Avoid creating sad moments out of typical setbacks. Such examples won’t work.
4) Don’t Dwell on the Sad Moments
I asked my wife what her favorite genre in movies is.
Without any hesitation, she replied – romantic comedies.
The ‘Why’ soon explored a universal desire for us to cope with negativity.
The cat videos in YouTube have now evolved to mindless scrolling of Instagram and TikTok videos. This is not a blip in human behavior, but our need to escape from the harsh realities of life and the negative news that mainstream media typically populates to get the eye balls.
When the admissions team is reading an essay, they are not just reading one kind of a sad story. They are reading hundreds – many made up to gain attention.
To separate the authentic from the manufactured sad moments, you must learn to transition from the sad moment to the lessons learned part of the draft.
No one wants to dwell on the negative.
Read Essay Examples with the ‘sad moments’ in F1GMAT’s Winning MBA Essay Guide.
