Don’t get intimidated by the word ‘achievement.’ The school is not just targeting Type A candidates. They are more interested in candidates who have a perspective about their achievement in the grand scheme of things.

Here are five themes that you should capture in your professional achievement essay:

Atul Jose (Admissions Consultant, F1GMAT): Today I will talk about three common weakness narratives that can jeopardize your admission chances.

1) Hard work

Today’s question is from a consultant who has experience in over three countries with a diverse range of projects. His question is

Q) How should I shortlist leadership experiences for my MBA Application

In today’s application tips series, I will talk about 3 things that will make your essays realistic for MBA admissions.

1) Dilemma

Many times, applicants trying to be contrarian share their post-MBA goal where the industry or the function is unique. They think that by doing so, the Business School will pay attention. I have noticed this pattern among applicants from competitive demographic like American Investment bankers or Indian IT professionals, or VC analysts.

Don’t use this strategy.

Before writing your essays, have a look at your life with an unbiased perspective.

For the 2024 Entering Class, Harvard Business School has one long-form Essay question with a 900-word limit.

The question is

Every applicant for an MBA program has a weakness.

"The structure of this book is surprisingly useful. The first chapter is an exercise on doing a life audit and shortlisting events that could be broken down into achievement overview, specifics, and impact on the team. The impact table demonstration in the essay guide help breaks down each impactful life and career event into a table format. This exercise helped me explore and compare projects that I had trouble coming up with a narrative for.