A common but effective narrative to demonstrate an applicant’s resilience is the setback and comeback narrative. Unlike movies where the comebacks are spectacular, and the protagonist overcomes armies of antagonists without even a scratch, believable narratives in Harvard MBA essays will have comebacks that are not complete.

There is a chapter in all F1GMAT’s Essay guides where I go in detail about capturing the transformation matrix. Those who write and edit narratives for stories, essays, and even featured articles about a larger-than-life personality instinctively understand this secret. For Harvard MBA applicants – most of whom are from Finance, Technology, Healthcare, and Consulting, this might be a new insight.

6% of the Harvard MBA Class is from non-profit/government. A larger percentage of applicants from Finance and Consulting have some experience working with a non-profit in long-term collaborations.

A big reason applicants can’t persuade the admissions team with their essays is the choice of personal and professional ‘examples.’ Many skim through branding and marketing ideas from consultants and assume that inserting a hero’s journey to mundane milestones from your resume is the answer.

Transitioning from the military to Harvard MBA is not a dream of many when there is close to 20% unemployment rate among American Military veterans.  Such ambitious goals are feasible only for a select few who have understood how to structure their Harvard MBA application, including essays and recommendation letters.

There is no harm in mentioning your entrepreneurial father/mother running the department store or small business. In the Harvard MBA Essay, one of the commonly cited narratives is around values that Asian parents pass on.

While editing Harvard MBA Essays, a common challenge I faced as an editor was the transition from the personal to the action part of the essay.

A common mistake I have seen while collaborating with applicants with background in contracts or someone whose job is to do due diligence is the focus on perfecting the MBA essay right from the start.

What happens is that the story elements become weaker, and the essay is a perfect version with no unique voice.

Schools have tried disrupting the application process with tweet essay, video essay, and image-based questions. From the many disruptions, the video essay has become a supplemental essay for many top MBA. Harvard Business School has continued with this one question:

I have obsessively ingrained the idea of Structure in all my MBA Application Essay Guides. Some applicants take this idea to the extreme and reach out with special requests.

A few years back, a client asked for edit help with one condition: the opening lines of the four paragraphs shouldn’t be touched. Rest all, she was open to editing comments.

Those who have applied to master’s or undergraduate degrees in the US are aware of the Statement of Purpose or Purpose statement. It is a 250-500 word essay citing why a program and the degree is right for an applicant.

In MBA programs, the purpose statement is known as the Goals Essay.

All MBA applicants have a purpose. Some are scared; some are embarrassed; some are not sure if such deep introspection is required, but all of them would love to share their core story when the right person asks them.

This is one of the common reasons why a GMAT 750 or someone with an excellent GPA gets dinged. They don’t ask themselves, “What is my Purpose?”

I discourage clients from starting with the motivation in the opening line, except for schools where the goals essay is limited to 250 or 200 words. In such cases, you don’t have much of a choice but to be direct and then expand on the circumstances that led you to believe that your goals are important and why an MBA is the tool that you need now to achieve those goals.

Many applicants obsess over opening lines instead of the entire narrative. So much so that they forget that the purpose of the opening line is to spark curiosity about your story.

Here are 5 Openers to create a memorable MBA Application Essay

Breaking stereotypes can go in surprising directions in an MBA application essay.

Indian-origin applicants in Rugby, American White Applicant with interest in Chinese Art, Chinese Applicants with virtuoso skills in Guitar are some that made me pause and think.

There is an insightful chapter on cultures in Erin Meyer’s best-selling book Culture Map, where she demonstrates how professionals from different countries choose to offer more context or less context in conversations.

This is the one quality that separates each culture.

While editing MBA Application essays, I noticed a pattern of writing that requires a complete rewrite. These are applicants in the top 5% with measurable impact and visible career progression validated by promotions.

So what happened?

I have an acquaintance who calls to check on how I am doing professionally. But when the conversation switches to anything personal about family or life, he pivots strategically to the juicy growth trends, income, salary, stocks, and trades.

When I shared the struggles of losing two father figures in a span of 2 months, he had nothing to say. He froze.