All MBA Application Related Tips

When the Admission team is reading your essays, they are not expecting writers who can take them to a world far far away. What is the point anyways? Post-MBA, your job would be to cut the fluff, and focus on the problem. Memos, reports, and emails expect you to stay as far away from narrative and backstories. Then why do MBA Admission teams expect applicants to write interesting narratives?

Here are the three reasons why MBA Admission team expects you to write interesting Narrative

More than emotions, evaluating an essay is an intense exercise. With the tiny 3-pounder brain taking up 20% of our total energy, it is no wonder that as humans, we don’t want to waste our mental energy on trivial activities. We would rather spend most of our energy on survival – getting food and avoiding danger. There is no difference between the diligent reviewer and the quick reader. Both would like to avoid the trivial essays.

Why? It gives them a better social status

How you analyze failure, summarize the lessons learned, and explain the comeback reveals a key characteristic of someone with a high emotional intelligence: the ability to bounce back.

Show your Emotional Intelligence Trait in MBA Essays: Ability to make a comeback

MBA Applicants dread October 1st Week and January 1st week. For Round 2 applicants, say goodbye to the winter break. You will obsessively rewrite the essays, and triple check the required documents, but it is worth the sacrifice. Even if you have all the soft copies of your certificates, transcript, and other awards, DO NOT UPLOAD YOUR ESSAYS, RESUME & RECOMMENDATION LETTER ON THE DEADLINE DATES.

Consider these 10 items before submitting your MBA application

When an MBA Admission Committee member is reading hundreds of essays, one factor that allows applicants to stand out is the readability of their essay. The focus on readability began in early 1940s with Dr. Rudolf Flesch, who introduced the ‘The Flesch Formulas’ that factors in average sentence length and average word length in syllables. Subsequently, there have been several readability formulas that have been integrated into word processing Softwares.


Let us look at the factors that influence readability the most

MBA Application Optional essay has stayed the same despite the change in the word limit, and the number of essays. The word limit for optional essays is in the 300-500 word range and comes at the end of the application. The space is reserved to explain the weakness in the profile, even though other explicit questions about weakness exist in most MBA Application essays.

Here are 7 reasons to write the MBA Application Optional Essay

GMAT might be the only hurdle that is devoid of any biases as the computer selects the next question according to your ability. While evaluating Essays and Interviews, human perception has a much bigger influence. Unfortunately, Automatic Biases are triggered by characteristics in the environment or stereotypes associated with a person (race, gender, age)


Interesting Findings about Essay Review Biases

If you understand the rationale behind your firing, it becomes much easier to explain the event in your MBA Application essay. Mark Cuban remembers getting fired from Your Business Software after closing a deal instead of opening the retail store. He provides an interesting narrative about the event.

Find out how to narrate the event without Whining

If you had seen the keynote address that Steve Jobs delivered during MacWorld Expo and other Apple launch events, you will notice four things in his communication: Emotional Connection, Focus, Minimum Jargons, and Creative Solutions. You can highlight these four traits in your essays. Learn how!

When AdCom wants to learn about an applicant’s ability to lead, communicate, and work with teams from diverse backgrounds, they are looking for events or evidence of creativity, and resourcefulness. The word ‘Creativity’ flashes us with images of brilliance and ‘out of the box’ thinking but AdCom is not expecting inventors but applicants who can excel with limited resources.

Learn How to include instances of resourcefulness and creativity in MBA Application Essays