4 Strategies: NYU Stern MBA Pick Six Visual Essay

The Pick Six NYU Stern Visual Essay with six IMAGES and a caption for each was part of the application even before Instagram became popular. The question is not a test of your photography skills or your ability to use tools to edit any imperfections in an image.

Here are 4 Quick Tips to answer the Pick Six NYU Stern MBA Visual Essay

1) The Power of Captions

2) Focus on Relationships

3) Focus on your Passion

4) 1 in A million Experience

1) The Power of Captions

I was reading Understanding a Photograph by John Berger. A point that Berger captures beautifully is that – any photograph without a caption becomes indistinguishable from the thousands of photos that the world has seen. This was a book written in mid 20th century. 

Now, with billions of photos taken every day and shared, we have developed an innate understanding of a good photograph. 

You must approach the visual essay as a Caption first, photograph second exercise. 

Unlike essays, it is even tougher to capture one sentence about the photograph and why it was important to you.

2) Focus on Relationships

NYU Stern essays talk about goals and change narratives. The change narrative should capture how you influence stakeholders in your company or the community. The visual essay should be personal and ideally capture your family. This is not a family photo opportunity. 

Passing Values and Skills - From One Generation to Another

Think about the skills and values that your parents taught. There might be some photographs where you went fishing, trekking, or sky diving or traveled to breathtaking spots. Or they might have inculcated a habit of serving underprivileged communities through your talent or your time.  Any vulnerable moment that captures an honest passing of values from a parent to a child never misses the mark. Use it for one of your six images.

3) Focus on your Passion

This could be wide-ranging, from an interest in drawing, singing, sports, or musical instruments to a unique accomplishment like being a published author, TED talk speaker, a patent under your name, or featured in a non-paid article as a guest author. 

Personal and Meaningful

It could also include something local that was smaller in scale but extremely meaningful for you. With captions, we can capture why the engagement was important for you.

4) 1 in A million Experience

This photograph can turn into a bragging match very soon. Many choose expensive vacation spots, interaction with celebrities, and breathtaking views. But those who have thought about their branding are careful to exclude trivial pop culture interactions and focus on real issues. 

Volunteering - National Disaster

One applicant carefully highlighted an interaction with a local from a flood as a volunteer for the Red Cross in the US. That one image was very easy to caption and demonstrated his civic duty.

Your 6 images should have self-explanatory 3 images 1 image about a relationship, and ideally 2 that require caption to understand the context.