MBA Essay Tips

For anyone in Finance, Technology or Consulting, this exercise might seem counterintuitive but the best way to improve you chance of writing memorable essays is not to write less but write at least 2000 words even if the word count of your school essays is 250 to 500 words.

For applicants, consider these 3 factors:

Yale MBA Essay: Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. Why is this commitment meaningful to you and what actions have you taken to support it? (500 words)

Broadly, personal commitment essay can be written with three themes: Commitment to values, Commitment to Goals, and Commitment to Community.

1. Commitment to Values

   a. Inclusion

LBS MBA Essay 2: What Makes you Unique (200 Words)

Adaptability and Resilience are now the most bastardised traits that applicants highlight as their uniqueness. 

In psychological contexts, there are nuanced differences between coping with stress vs adapting to stress, vs. remaining resilient throughout a stressful scenario. 

LBS MBA Essay 2: What Makes you Unique (200 Words)

All curiosity narratives are anchored around the applicant’s ability to think beyond the obvious, find insights that no one is looking for, and accentuate the solution’s impact.

a) Technical Curiosity

The least impactful curiosity narratives are around technical solutions, where the applicant fails to connect the solution to the business impact. Even if the technical solution had an impact on the client, solo solutions have the lowest influence on the admissions team. 

LBS MBA Essay 2: What Makes you Unique (200 Words)

Every competent professional targeting top schools, including LBS, has committed to excellence in their profession. That doesn’t make an applicant unique. The top 1-5% performance will help them gain attention, but to highlight uniqueness, an applicant should lean into their belief and the passion that emanates from the belief.

LBS MBA Essay 2: What Makes you Unique (200 Words)

An applicant is unique when their multiple lived experiences through professional and personal roles create a unique profile that is unlike any of their peers. 

Most applicants choose to cite professional roles from their full-time or volunteering roles and articulate the influence of their diverse experiences on their thinking and decision-making. 

The 1st lived role that differentiates an applicant are narratives that capture two roles.

LBS MBA Essay 2: What Makes you Unique (200 Words)

With the incentive to cut costs by building a global supply chain, trade flourished around the world. Each country brought its unique strength to the products and services served in the marketplace. 

The collaboration was not limited to skills. The cultures of the interacting countries are also transmitted while collaborating. 

Under such global influences, a skilled professional can gauge the difference between innovation that works in any culture and that which needs careful tweaking. 

LBS MBA Essay 2: What Makes you Unique (200 Words)

Inclusive leadership is not democratic leadership, which, according to studies, is the worst kind of leadership in a crisis. 

Asking for votes for every small decision is counterproductive. That is why in democratic societies, we have representatives to take care of the interests of the constituents. 

Inclusive Leadership is much more nuanced.