When I guide clients to write their draft MBA essays, they worry about the emotional context of the opening act.
Should it be an uplifting moment or a negative moment that depresses the admissions team?
An essay without any conflict is just a rephrased MBA Resume – the most boring essay. Now, with creators uploading their stories with just a click of a button, diverse themes, and storylines are part of popular consciousness.
I was watching the 1944 movie Laura (spoilers), where one of the main characters, played by Clifton Web, spoke with a diction and style that was commonplace in 1910-1920 plays but came across as snobbish for 1940 talkies.
When you read MBA Essays like me for editing, you begin to see the vast range of consciousness poured into the paper – all to get the coveted seat in an M7 or T15 school.
How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (Professional Gain)(500 words)
How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (Professional Gain)(500 words)
Without a personal crisis narrative, there is nothing at stake. Life goes linearly with no bumps to surprise the admissions team and no lessons to share for the reader’s survival machine.
Without setbacks, there is no story. Without a story, there is no essay.
How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (Professional Gain)(500 words)
The technology applicant demographic that have fast-tracked into a career in technology has gained the insight that an ML career and super specializing in technology has its limitations.
Despite the 3-year ROI, an MBA is a path to mitigate any future risks for master’s degree holders in Data Analytics, Machine Learning, and those with a super specialization in Technology.
Unusual career paths to Investment Banking, Portfolio Management, or PE are some of the best narratives I have read in open-ended essays.
You should incorporate the narrative even for the goals essay for these 3 scenarios:
Venture Capital professionals are often subject matter experts from the Technology, Law, or Finance industry. A big challenge for those used to the hands-on experience is the increasingly soft touch a VC role demands.
Career Pivoting is increasingly the largest motivation for applying to a top MBA. For Tuck, the transition need not be dramatic. Marketing to Branding. Technology Consulting to Consulting in Technology and broader lateral moves often are more believable than dramatic shifts in functions, industries, or both.
Business School graduate programs are ahead of the job market. When Oil and Gas experienced a 20% decline in jobs from 2014 to 2023, top Business Schools were ahead of the curve, limiting the class size of Oil and Gas courses or completely stopping such programs.
For the Tuck MBA meaningfully contributed to the sense of inclusion essay, applicants often ignore the ‘meaning’ part while drafting the essay. The meaning is not just from a company’s IMPACT perspective, narrowly focused on the performance metrics – money saved, clients earned, increase in revenue, and contribution towards the productivity of the team.
The school’s culture and openness to embrace the idealistic values of the current generation determines the language you use in MBA Essays. For Tuck, emotionally strong words are not the norm. However, the school is open to reading challenging scenarios and debate-inducing political subjects if the applicant has the skills to define the problem in an apolitical narrative. That is the first iteration of our edit – removing redundant political statements.
The Tuck Sense of Inclusion professional examples are broad. Depending on your industry and the performance metrics, you are likely to attract peers with different social, communication, and ethical perspectives.
When you work in Finance, Creative (YouTube) or Consulting, there is self-regulation and ethical behavior that is paramount for the health of the entire ecosystem.
Technology as a lever is a common theme for applicants from developing economies. African applicants use this narrative to demonstrate the gaps in policy and infrastructure. Many such essays feel like the FIELD courses that Harvard Business School initiated for their MBA program. Some MBA admission consultants nudge clients to include the narrative to show fit with Harvard.
One of the biggest challenges I found while editing essays for Consortium applicants is in differentiating the struggles. It is shocking but unsurprising to see how common the thread of the story is for each applicant who had to face the inter-generational consequences of racism.
It is easy to forget the horrors of war when one is in the comforts of an AC room with food on the plate and no worries about water, electricity, or the safety of your family. The narratives all look familiar - as if we have read them a million times. None of the sufferers feel Deja vu. They mask the horrors with the new American dream.
The exploratory narrative works in rare cases. It is even rarer to read this type of essay for a Harvard MBA.
We have the instinct to understand themes in paragraphs. The first paragraph is about a certain topic; the second is about another, and so on. But when writing an open-ended essay, like the What More Harvard Essay or What Matters Stanford Essay, applicants are confused about the themes to choose. Many choose projects from their professional career, while some choose values, and many are stuck in childhood victories that often don’t translate well in MBA application essays.
Family Business dynamics can go either way.
One group of MBA applicants is eager to uphold the legacy of the parent’s business with innovation, technology, and a mindset fit for the AI and the Creator generation.