6. NAIL THE ESSAYS

We know that you'd much rather have your eyes gouged out with a wooden spoon than write a B-school essay. After all, no one writes these suckers for fun. However, your essays show schools several things:

  • That you can write sentences in the English language (a much rarer skill than you'd think).
  • That you can make clear arguments about your beliefs or the beliefs of others.
  • That your theories and thoughts extend beyond the obvious.
  • That you can explain why you sincerely want to attend their school.

Here's the pertinent info for writing kick-ass essays:

  • Most applications require between two and six essays.

  • Applications usually provide page or word limits, but it can be difficult to discuss your entire values system in 300 words or less.

  • Schools like to give you essay topics where you won't be able to submit a stock essay to every school; thus, many of the subjects are rather strange. Here are some examples:

New York University Stern School of Business: Agree or disagree with three statements: one by Sophocles, one by Aristotle and one by Jose Ortega y Gasset. (statements provided in the application)

Harvard University: Describe a situation in which you failed and explain why it happened.

Stanford University: What course you would pursue if getting an MBA did not exist as an option?

  • Start early enough to give yourself time to think about the questions, write several drafts, give them to friends to read and comment on, and then think about them again. No matter how brilliant you are, your fourth draft will be better than your first. So get input, revise, and make sure that you're happy with it.
  • Make your essays sincere rather than trying to give them what they want. Don't write about how you want to use your business skills to help third-world countries, or how their school is the one that you dreamed about as a child. They can smell insincerity, and they will HATE your application if you try to feed them what you think they're looking for. Instead, just be honest.

  • Stay away from clichs. The admission committee reads thousands of these suckers, so make yours interesting enough for them to grab their attention. Clichd essays about dead relatives, a stock "I like your school" essay, or one of those dreaded "and then I had an epiphany!" essays will be your doom. Talk about interesting things you've done, interesting problems you've solved, and interesting things you plan to do.

  • Talk about how you solve problems in groups. Not explicitly, of course, but admission committees love students that can solve problems and work well with others. Very kindergarten.