How To Make the Most Out Of Your MBA Essay Edits

UPDATE: This article was originally posted on December 12, 2019. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

Working with an editor will help make your MBA application essays stand above the crowd. By using effective strategies to tell your story, ensuring that your writing is clear and concise, and helping you determine if your essay speaks to your audience, a good editor can help your profile really shine in front of the admissions committee. 

However, to help you make the most of your essays, it is important to make the most of your MBA essay edits, as well.

There is no other place in your application where giving your all is as important as your MBA admissions essays – after all, that is where you have the space to really tell the adcom what they need to know: who you are, what you value, and the motivations behind the bullet points on your CV. 

To make sure this happens, it is essential to work with your editor. Together, you can get your essays into shape to compete with the international community aiming to attend your program of choice. 

 

Working with your editor

Of course, your editor cannot just make this magic happen for you. Our editors at Ellin Lolis Consulting need YOUR support to make our feedback happen and land on a winning essay. 

It is important you come prepared with your content – and your mindset – so that you can make the most of your MBA essay edits. That way, we can streamline the process and save everyone’s time and energy for other parts of your application. 

Whether you wish to do a single edit or your entire application with us, these tips can help you take advantage of the editing process.

 

1. Your application is your responsibility

First and foremost, it is essential to understand that we do not write essays for our clients.

While we can help you formulate your words more gracefully, suggest adding a transition, or adjust passages to fit a common theme, we cannot invent your experiences or make up your achievements.

In other words, your content must come from you. Your MBA admissions essays must be based on events that you have actually experienced. Because our editors do not know you personally, we cannot construct content on your behalf.

You cannot fake underlying motivations and values. If you try to do this in your application, it will be immediately obvious to the admissions committee. 

Remember, your application is your responsibility – while we can help make your words clear, concise, and eloquent, we cannot take actually writing the essay out of your hands.

 

2. Come prepared – with your texts

To make sure we can give you quality edits on your very first draft, it is important to come prepared. 

While some clients like to make an outline or bullet points on their initial version, others may want to formulate their thoughts into sentences and paragraphs before turning in the text to their editor.

Either of these methods is effective, but keep in mind – the further along your essay is, the more feedback we can give you. Especially if you are trying to save on time or the number of drafts you would like to have edited, it is best to give us drafts that are as “done” as possible.

To make the most out of your very first edit with us, take a look at our blog posts! We offer many tips and tricks in regard to storytelling, theme, leadership, writing about weaknesses, and what not to do when writing your MBA admissions essays.

 

3. Come prepared – with your mindset!

Before beginning the editing process, it is important to understand just what you should expect from it: a process.

Our editors at Ellin Lolis Consulting consider editing to be a feedback process. We must work with you to get to the best possible essay

When you hand in your first draft, you may expect that we will give you back a perfect essay. This is simply not the case. Essay editing is not a relay race – just because you’ve handed us the baton does not mean you are done running.

Because we cannot read your mind, we always ask for numerous details and clarifications about what passages, phrases, and sentences mean – no matter what level your English skills are at. While this is a completely normal part of the editing process, it can often take a while to get to the bottom of your intended meaning. 

Our editing process, therefore, nearly always consists of multiple rounds of feedback – and analyzing your responses to that feedback. A single edit will never suffice to take full advantage of our editing services.

Additionally, don’t be disturbed if we leave lots of comments on your essay. These will help us narrow down your meaning, understand the correct amount of detail, and help you say precisely what you mean.

Sometimes we determine – together with your input – that the direction of your essay is just not working. Just like in business, one must be ready to try a new tactic if the old one feels ineffective. We will often not know if our current tactic is ineffective until we realize it is not working. 

If we decide to try a new strategy for your essay, this does not mean that you did everything wrong – some essays just work better with a new approach. 

 

4. Let us take care of word count

I cannot emphasize this one enough: please forget about the word count in your early drafts!

Many of our clients are concerned about the length of their essays. Sometimes, they are over the allotted word count to begin with; other times, they are afraid of expanding their essays while responding to our feedback. 

We find it most helpful to remind clients that cutting words comes at the very end of the editing process. Often we will ask clients to add sentences – or whole stories – to their essays. It is perfectly okay – and in fact, expected – that you will go over the word limit while doing so. 

While this does not mean you should write us novels, it does mean that we need those extra details to decide on the best strategy for moving forward. Thorough detail helps us determine your precise meaning, understand your underlying motivations, or formulate a story to be more complete and persuasive to the reader.

So please, let us worry about word count while editing your essay. Trust us – we will not forget this essential step. 

 

5. Think about your theme

To streamline the editing process, it is good to think about your essay’s theme before turning it over to us. 

A theme is your central argument. While you may tell many stories about various experiences, your theme is what ties all of them together to give your reader a central message that they won’t forget. 

Depending on the essay question, you may decide to use the theme community service, dependability, or promoting environmental sustainability. However, there is no limit to your theme – we have seen clients choose themes ranging from hiking to online gaming to photography. 

There are many options for constructing a compelling theme in your MBA admissions essays. You could choose which stories you want to tell and decide what they have in common. You could select the experiences you feature to align with a central value, hobby, or interest of yours. Alternatively, you could take a look at the school’s values and see which of those apply to experiences from your past. 

However you decide on your theme, it is important that you reinforce it throughout your essay. Just naming it in the intro paragraph is not enough – it should be clear how your theme relates to each paragraph in your essay. 

We have written extensively on the use of themes in MBA admissions essays. Please take a look at our blog posts so that you can take your best shot at applying a winning theme right from the start!

 

6. Remember it’s a collaborative process

Our editors try our best to help you shape your essay to tell your story as effectively, clearly, and concisely as possible. We always give you our honest feedback about how we feel about the direction your essay is taking.

Of course, you might not always like all of our suggestions. We may determine that a story should be removed or that a certain phrasing just doesn’t work. Having your writing edited can feel very personal. Trust me, as a writer, I know it is hard to let go of words that I love. 

You do not have to take our suggestions. After all, they are suggestions. Remember, it is your essay, not ours, so you will always make the final call. 

Keep in mind, however, that our advice comes from experience with hundreds of MBA admissions essays and a 98.9% success rate. We know what works best for your target school and your profile.

 

7. Keep your thinking cap on!

While we are experts at what we do, remember that we are only human too, so it is important that you think alongside us. Don’t hesitate to point out inconsistencies or mistakes. 

Sometimes, in an attempt to make your writing more precise or concise, some things may get lost in translation. We don’t want to accidentally alter your intended meaning. 

While we will always try to alert you of these possibilities, make sure you stay on top of the process to correct these mistakes. 

 

8. Follow specific instructions

It is imperative for streamlining the editing process that you follow our requests and instructions. In most cases, we try to leave our clients with actionable feedback – that is, exact instructions about what to do to make improvements to your draft. 

Following these instructions helps us help you best and will keep everybody on track to get to a stunning essay as soon as possible.

 

9. Fully respond to all comments

Make sure you do your best to respond to our feedback. All too often, we leave specific feedback for our clients without getting a response on the subsequent draft.

This is unhelpful – it leaves your editor uncertain if you just didn’t see the comment, if you did not agree with it, or if you simply did not know how to answer. Because your editor still needs this information to proceed, we may have to ask you again. 

By being unresponsive, you may cause your essay to need another round of editing – which both you and your editor would like to avoid.

Even if you don’t know the answer to our feedback, it would be great if you could let us know! This is no problem – and we can see where we go from there.

 

10. Keep your deadline in mind

Our editors do their best to fit in your essay even on tight schedules. However, keep in mind that you cannot turn in your essay mere days before the deadline and expect magic.

We work with many clients – and many essays – simultaneously. However, we prioritize essays in the order they are returned to us. Oftentimes, even a week will not be enough time to get your first draft into shape if it needs multiple edits. And, in our experience, it most certainly will! 

What you put in is what you get – and a thorough, quality edit takes multiple rounds of feedback. Be sure to keep your deadline in mind when deciding when to start writing your MBA admissions essay. 

 

How can we help?

Our editors can help you improve every aspect of your essay. This includes advice and feedback about both what to write and how to write it. 

Our edits range from simply eradicating grammatical errors to optimizing organizational structure to enhancing storytelling techniques throughout your essay. All of these elements will help you craft an essay that does its job – persuade the admissions board that you belong at their school.

Our edits include both technical and strategic edits. Technical edits involve the mechanics of language. Technical editing means helping you fix grammar and spelling issues, syntax, word choice, and spelling. We also consider helping you squeeze your essay into the required word limit as part of technical editing.

However, our services go beyond that to include strategic edits – the kind of decisions that will help make or break your essay by taking a close look at your content. We can help you decide which stories you should use, if your argument is appropriate for your target school if you have included the right amount of detail, and if everything you have written is easy for your audience to understand.

Our MBA essay editing services at Ellin Lolis Consulting include both technical and strategic edits. Together, we will work with you to craft an essay that will provide your best chances for success.

 

We Make Your Story Shine

One of the most common mistakes we see in MBA essays is that candidates fail to tell compelling stories. This is important because if your stories are not compelling, they will not be persuasive. At the same time, they must be backed by strong examples that establish a track record of success and prove to the admissions committees why you belong at their school. 

Striking this balance between content and creativity can be tough, however, as succeeding means not only choosing the right stories but ensuring they are told in an optimal manner. 

This is why our iterative developmental feedback process here at Ellin Lolis Consulting helps you mold your message through the application of our storytelling expertise until it reflects exactly what makes your profile stand out and show fit with your target program. 

Not only can you take advantage of our iterative feedback process through multiple edits – you can also benefit from it after a single review! If your budget is tight, our editors will be happy to help polish your text as much as possible and leave “bonus comments” so you can keep working on it on your own!