What to write in your Essays: Setbacks vs. Failures vs. Catastrophic Failures

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.

Example: Project Manager Assigns a task --> I find the task challenging --> Spot talent --> Assembles a team --> Communicates the Goal --> Setbacks --> Eventually a Winning Team

Anyone who is reading a narrative about team building is expecting this sequence. Don't go crazy and do a Nolan, starting with the end or go deep into a sequence that is tough to interpret. Processing fluency impacts the first impression. The tougher it is to read your sentence or interpret the event, the harder it is to influence the admission team. The attention allocated for each candidate is limited (10 minutes). So don't force the reviewer to abandon your essay. Instead, start with an acknowledgment of your weakness.

I have found this to be the most difficult part of my job as an Editor and a Reviewer - bringing out true weaknesses from the applicants. Even those brilliant candidates you see on Class profile pages in HBS, Columbia, or Stern initially hesitated to write about their weaknesses. Our society has magnified the stigma so much that I see tweets from motivational speakers and champion athletes using "L" to represent the loss. They are not even acknowledging the word. Understandably so. It is painful. No one wants to relive those terrible moments.

You truly have one shot at admissions. If I were you, I would have hesitated too, and tried to put a positive spin to my failures.

But I have one question.

Without failures, how did you recognize your weaknesses?

Setbacks vs. Failures vs. Catastrophic Failures

Setbacks are speed breakers in your 5-day cross-country trip. They are inconvenient, but you eventually reached your destination. Failures are flat tires. You changed the tires perfectly or swallowed your pride and sought the help of AAA. Catastrophic failures are when your car catches fire, taking one side of your ass cheek and you barely escaped in one piece. Most applicants are ready with the speed breakers, but the admission team is expecting how after fixing one flat tire, you faced another one a mile away, but your determination to reach the destination, made you calm instead of shouting obscenities at the car.

Catastrophic failure is when your company goes bankrupt, a product triggers a Global Financial meltdown, or your strategy nearly cost a town its last penny. Entrepreneurial applicants choose an MBA when they find that their initial swing at owning their Business didn't quite pan out as they had expected. They have no other option but to mention catastrophic failures. Traditional applicants should avoid mentioning them.

Rest of the failures are life lessons that have taken you so far - to be among some of the best competitors in the world from Finance, Consulting, Technology, Marketing, and Strategy. You are going to win, but before that, list all your failures and setbacks.

Now use pillaring like this:

Traditional Example: Project Manager Assigns a task --> I find the task challenging --> Spot talent --> Assembles a team --> Communicates the Goal --> Setbacks --> Eventually a Winning Team

After Pillaring: I find the task challenging --> Project Manager Assigned a task --> Spot talent --> Setbacks --> Assembles a team --> Communicates the Goal --> Setbacks --> Eventually a Winning Team

Without setbacks and failures, your narrative will lack the authenticity and hook required to create a Winning Essay.

I have shared an extensive list of storytelling, writing and editing tips in Winning MBA Essay Guide (Includes 14 School Specific Essay Tips)

Download Winning MBA Essay Guide

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