UPDATE: This article was originally posted on June 6, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below.
Short, sweet, and to the point – writing an MBA application essay should be a straightforward task, but there’s a lot riding on this portion of the application, and few find it simple.
In 250 words or less, you are challenged with the task of communicating to the admissions team how you stand out from the crowd and why you should be admitted into their program. Since you are competing with thousands of other applicants who have the exact same goal, this might seem like an overwhelming task.
Have no fear!
Here at Ellin Lolis Consulting, we are extremely skilled at helping potential MBA students reach their goals. Among other things, our knowledge of what makes a winning essay has led to a 100% success rate of our clients being accepted into at least one of their target schools. Check out our tried-and-true guidelines on how to write a winning essay in 250 words.
Be Passionate
The first tip is related to the first step you will take to write your MBA application essay: choosing a topic. This step is hugely important to the whole essay and you should take some time to really think about what you want to convey to the admissions officers. Keep in mind that they already have all the facts about you – they know your grades, your work history, and probably most of your measurable achievements.
The goal is to make them take an interest in you.
Write about what you’re passionate about, whatever it is because it will give the admissions team insight into who you really are. It’s something that your grades and work history can’t communicate, but your passion can.
Here’s another tip: don’t try to fabricate something that you’re passionate about because it sounds good. There are enough application essays out there that talk about wanting to help people because the world has a lot of problems. You won’t stand out just because you write about a noble cause.
Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Yale School of Management, says he is wary of personal statements that tell dramatic stories and stretch the truth. He does not look for students who have had exotic experiences but for evidence of resilience, introspection, and initiative.
Use this space to get personal. Tell an anecdote about your life and be creative with your presentation. You can write about something you’re passionate about without describing your life story.
The key is simply to care about what you’re writing about, whether that’s coffee or running or your grandmother. Let your qualities shine through that topic – it will be much more memorable than talking about how you want to help people. And remember, because your essay is one in thousands being read by a team of people who have seen it all before, being memorable is absolutely essential.
So, what are you passionate about? Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine!
Be Vulnerable
Got fired from your first job after university? Had a bad GPA because of family problems? Do tell!
When choosing what to include in your story, keep in mind that conflict, controversy, and complexity are all good in an MBA application essay. Even flaws can be great talking points.
Instead of trying to hide less-than-glamorous aspects of your life, embrace your humanness! Reflecting on these situations gives you a chance to show a deeper level of thinking that an admissions team will be sure to appreciate. Just be sure to clearly show how much you’ve grown since or as a result of the conflict.
That brings us to the second part of being vulnerable: avoiding bragging.
You want the admissions committee to have a high opinion of you, but you won’t get there by sounding like you have a high opinion of yourself. The tricky part is that you still want to communicate the best version of yourself in this essay.
The Princeton Review gives some guidance on how to navigate this fine line: Stress what makes you unique, not what makes you number one. Don’t feel like you have to make it sound like you are always successful, always the star employee, and good at everything you do.
They know it’s not true (because no one is), and they would prefer to see qualities like leadership, ethics, and teamwork skills. Be honest, be vulnerable – and if you’re not sure whether something sounds braggy or if you’re sharing too much, ask a friend to read it over. Better yet, ask an MBA consultant!
Looking for example 250-word essays to help you start writing? Our MBA Resource Center has dozens of successful sample essays, in addition to all types of essays from countless schools, brainstorm guides, resume templates, interview mocks and answer models, and much more. Find out more about your one-stop shop for MBA application success here.
Show, Don’t Tell
Your passion may be the topic of your application essay, but underneath that anecdote about your family’s love for food, important qualities about yourself should be communicated.
The key word here is underneath. Directly stating, “I am a resilient person,” somehow doesn’t convey resilience quite as well as a story that brings readers to that conclusion themselves.
Still, according to PrepScholar GMAT, admissions committees are looking for very specific qualities that allow students to succeed in business school. These include leadership skills, community involvement, problem-solving skills, communication skills, clear goals, and a strong sense of ethics.
So how do you show qualities? When you tell your story, use aspects like how you acted, what you said, and what you learned to tell another story about your personality. When this is done well, the result is an essay that subtly brings the admissions officer to the right conclusion.
Another plus of this approach is that it says something about your ability as a writer and a person. Reflecting on a real-life situation with all its complexities and highlighting how it affected you is the next step up from simply relating what happened or stating a fact about yourself. Self-aware people can look at a situation in their personal life, understand the contributing factors, and come to conclusions about the outcome.
Stay Focused
In an essay of 250 words, this might be the most important piece of advice to keep in mind.
The reason we have focused on telling one anecdote or story is because that’s all you have room for. This essay is not meant to repeat the achievements the admissions people already know, nor is it a good place to squeeze in a summary of your life – or even a summary of one year! Choose one moment, one situation, one idea, and follow it all the way through.
A quick note before we get deeper into how to write with focus: make sure this one point answers the question being asked.
Some universities ask very open-ended questions that give you all kinds of freedom when writing, but many use more specific prompts. Before you start writing, all throughout the process, and after you think you’re finished, make sure that you are clearly answering the question.
How to Stay Focused Tip #1
Staying focused means using one story to support your point
Resist the temptation to rabbit trail because it gives you a chance to talk about something else you’re proud of. Your essay should follow one idea from beginning to end so that you can flesh it out a bit and show some of that deep thinking we were talking about. Listing things, like on a resume, will not do that for you.
How to Stay Focused Tip #2
Cut the fluff and write concisely.
There are several ways you can do this. The first is writing in the active voice, where the subject of the sentence performs the action, as opposed to the passive voice, where the subject receives the action. The Writing Centre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison gives these examples:
Active: The dog bit the man.
Passive: The man was bitten by the dog.
Active should be used whenever possible because it makes the sentence more clear and uses fewer words – the goal of any 250-word essay.
The second major way you can cut out fluff is by avoiding big, general statements that don’t contribute much to the paragraph. If you are wondering whether a sentence is “fluffy” or not, try reading the paragraph without that sentence and see if the section loses meaning. If your point is still clear (or more clear) without that sentence, cut it.
Bring it Back to the MBA
You might be answering a question like, “What is the biggest risk you have ever taken?” but it’s important that your response relates back to why you want to go to business school.
These questions are conversation starters that show your personality and give you a chance to let the admissions committee see the real you – make the connection between your truest self and an education at their school, and you have a winner!
This connection is different from rabbit trailing, and it doesn’t have to take up a lot of space. It’s often your last sentence or two and neatly wraps up your essay. Make sure that the conclusion to go to business school follows logically from the story. If you really can’t figure out how to make that happen, it might be an indicator that you should change your topic.
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!
No matter how long we work with you, we will always ensure your essays shine. Sign up to work with our team of storytelling experts and get accepted.
Real MBA Essays That Got People In
School-specific sample essays that got our clients accepted
