All MBA Application Related Tips

I saw the Harvard MBA Admissions Director asking applicants to be genuine and the INSEAD MBA Managing Director recommending not to polish the Essay too much; hints that the edited version of the essays tends to be devoid of any personality or genuineness.

As you might have experienced by now, switching styles is not easy in MBA Application Essays. We tend to overdo the blog part with self-references, slangs, or try our hand at humor. Essays have no place for any. But with recent edits in our review service, one part that has helped my clients is the Art of Pillaring. I have included a chapter on it in Winning MBA Essay Guide. The idea is to break the expected series of events. Do parallel storytelling or jumble the sequence to such a degree that you find the perfect balance in narrative and a standard essay.

Ross MBA Essay Tips: The admission team wants to know whether you are a sensing or an intuitive candidate. The personality traits were popularized by the Myers-Briggs Personality tests.

A sensing personality uses their five senses to gather information and looks at the facts before making any decisions. They are logically driven. Experience with a similar problem in the past often acts as a roadmap for future decisions. Managing resources and people require a sensing personality.

This revelation question should surprise the admission team. Ideally, include an aspect of your personality that is an antithesis to your profession traits or nationality or gender.

The resume, essays, and recommendation letters are part of the first round of evaluation. Since recommendation letter has a pre-defined format with little leeway in terms of creativity, essays become the all-important point of persuasion. Extracurricular should be strategically used to complement your functional skills.

The imperfections don't matter. Just talk, answer the question, and record it. Transcribe your answer. Read what you have said. I can guarantee you that you will find at least 30-40% unique phrases that are unlikely to be found on any sample essays.

For MBA Applicants around the world, one thing that bothers them the most is the review process for Essays.

Most applicants review their essays for grammar and structural errors but then pass the essays to friends, colleagues, partners, parents, or experts for a detailed review. What most applicants fail to do is to define the best practices for reviewing the essays.

Here are 4 Best Practices for Reviewing MBA Application Essays

When we write for the blog, the mandatory subheading, bullet points, tables, and images ensure that when you scan for information, at least one of the elements in the page will grab your attention and interest you to read from the start. When you can’t find anything stimulating from a quick scan, you will most likely skip this article. In essays, you have to follow the opposite.

Managing Attention: MBA Admission Team