Are you gearing up to apply to business school and feeling overwhelmed by the essay writing process? You’re not alone. Many MBA applicants struggle to convey what makes them unique in a way that truly sets them apart from the competition.
The stakes are high, and a generic or lackluster essay means the difference between getting accepted to your dream school or being left behind. It’s a daunting task, but don’t worry – we’re here to bring our decade of experience to help you.
In this post, we’ll share five essential steps to crafting compelling MBA essays that strike a great balance between showing what makes you unique and hitting on the content elements all good essays need to have.
By following our proven framework, you’ll be able to create essays that grab the attention of admissions committees and demonstrate why you’re the ideal candidate for their program. We’ll guide you through the process step by step, providing practical tips and real-world examples along the way. Let’s jump in!
Step 1: Use Your Personal Brand
One of the most important things to take advantage of as you write each of your essays is a personal brand that connects all of your ideas and examples. In essence, your personal brand is the set of characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, approaches, values, and goals that align with your experience and motivations.
In the highly competitive MBA admissions landscape, standing out from the crowd is crucial. With thousands of applicants vying for limited spots, crafting a compelling personal brand is key to catching the attention of the admissions committee and securing your place in their program.
Your personal brand is the unique combination of your experiences, skills, and values that define who you are and what you bring to the table. By carefully curating the elements you choose to highlight in your application, you can create a cohesive narrative that showcases your strengths and sets you apart from other candidates.
To build a strong personal brand, start by reflecting on your most significant achievements, challenges overcome, and lessons learned. Consider what makes you unique and what you want the admissions committee to remember about you. Be selective in what you include, focusing on the aspects of your story that are most relevant and compelling.
While everyone’s personal brands differ, some of the key questions you can answer to build your own include: what are your purpose and vision? What motivates you in your life and career? What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned, and how have you used them in different situations? How do you stand out, both personally and professionally? What are your strengths, and how have you demonstrated them? What about your weaknesses, and how have you tried to overcome them?
Once you have your ideas down, you can start thinking about how they translate into the responses to the questions in your application.
Step 2: Use STAR-Formatted Stories
Depending on the question (whether it’s about leadership, impact, or even your hobbies), you will have to choose which examples of your strengths (and weaknesses!) are most appropriate. No matter what you choose, however, it’s almost always a good idea to use STAR to structure your stories.
To have a full explanation of this approach, we suggest checking out our post dedicated fully to STAR, but here’s the nutshell version. STAR stands for:
Situation: Provide context about the challenge or opportunity you faced. Paint a clear picture so the reader understands the background.
Task: Explain your specific role and the key objective you needed to achieve. Highlight any major obstacles that stood in your way.
Action(s): Detail the steps and strategies you used to address the situation and reach your goal. Showcase your problem-solving abilities here.
Results: Describe the outcomes of your efforts. Quantify the impacts where possible and reflect on lessons learned.
Using this framework will help you understand what information is most important to include – especially considering that you are trying to paint a clear picture of yourself to a group of strangers – and how to structure it logically and effectively.
At Ellin Lolis Consulting, we also work with our clients to combine this approach with storytelling to make those examples really pop. If you can provide structure, that’s one thing, but if you can also make it engaging and memorable through vivid, authentic descriptions and meaning, then you are on track to getting admitted to your dream school.
Take this example from one of our client’s essays:
“The achievement I’m most proud of happened recently. At my company, it had been three years since we had raised investments for a new fund, so finding a new opportunity was critical. In mid-December, that great opportunity arose, however, we’d be battling against an unbelievably short deadline to get the project approved.
Normally, at this time of year, we’re still fully staffed, but given the stagnant market, only one manager and myself remained. In addition, the fund’s investment policy relied on a strategy that we’d never used. Finally, I’d never worked on the public offering of a fund before.
Nonetheless, I knew that if the manager and I worked diligently to support each other, we could land this deal. Our first move was to organize a meeting to align all parties involved. Then, we divided tasks, and I took over coordinating stakeholders, assigning tasks, and managing deliverables. In the end, we successfully delivered everything on time.
This experience made me more comfortable in a leadership position, as managing diverse stakeholders under pressure helped me better analyze what each brought to the table and execute accordingly. Recently, I’ve even been able to help other teams coordinate new offers. Finally, the project was a great opportunity to learn new management skills from my superior. This reinforced for me how important it will be to learn additional management frameworks at INSEAD and prepare myself to be a leader in the private equity market.”
Notice how the author has structured this story in STAR format while also showing color via a detailed description and revealing how the event impacted their career.
TOP TIP: The key to a strong application is to be authentic. Don’t embellish or exaggerate. Instead, focus on real examples that highlight your strengths and potential. Keep the language professional but approachable. Aim for clarity over complexity. After all, your main objective is to ensure that your personality and capabilities shine through.
Step 3: Have a Clear Plan For Your Goals
Another absolutely essential aspect of brainstorming and writing any MBA application is having a clear, actionable goals statement. Without it, you will not be able to connect your past achievements and lessons learned to your future, which includes the MBA program and how you plan to engage with and use it!
The career goals you present are a vital piece of your business school application. It’s your chance to demonstrate to the admissions committee that you have a clear vision for your future and that you’re the kind of candidate who will uphold their reputation as you advance in your career.
To craft a compelling goals statement, you need to articulate both your immediate plans after graduation and your long-term career objectives. For each, specify the industry or company you intend to work in, as well as the particular role you aim to hold. If you’re planning a career transition, be sure to provide a solid rationale for your choice.
It’s also beneficial to describe what you hope to accomplish in those positions and why you are passionate about pursuing these goals. By including these specifics, you’ll show that you’ve given serious thought to your professional trajectory and have a well-defined roadmap for your career.
Remember, the admissions team wants to see that you have a purposeful plan for your time in business school and beyond. A strong, detailed goals statement will help you make a persuasive case for your admission and demonstrate your potential to be a successful alumnus who will bolster the school’s image in the years to come.
For example, see one of our former clients’ long-term goals:
“In the long-term, I hope to become a principal at BCG who focuses on emphasizing sustainable solutions by promoting renewable energy in consumer goods companies across Brazil. In this position, I can not only help companies become more sustainable but reinforce this mindset among BCG teams in order to increase widespread environmental awareness in business.”
Notice how they have stated the details while also giving a clear picture of exactly what they intend to do and change. These goals are specific, which proves that the candidate has thought through their goals clearly but also remains visionary in what they want to achieve, which shows passion and motivation. This is the kind of approach you want to take when formulating your own goals.
Step 4: Be Strategically Specific
Two of the biggest mistakes some of our clients make in their essays: being too vague about their stories and being too specific about irrelevant details. Specifically, it is important to hit the sweet spot when it comes to details.
When crafting your MBA admissions essays, it’s crucial to provide specific examples that clearly illustrate your experiences and achievements to the admissions committee. Keep in mind that they don’t know you personally and may not have business backgrounds, so it’s essential to explain the context and significance of your stories.
However, it’s equally important to be selective about the details you include. That’s why developing your personal brand and focusing on a few key stories is so critical. You want to ensure you have enough space to provide a comprehensive overview of your actions and their impact, often within a 500-word limit.
To make the most of your essay, only include information that directly supports the main point you want to convey. While our clients are often tempted to highlight every strength they demonstrated in a particular experience, there simply isn’t enough room to cover all the angles. As we often advise our clients, even in longer essays like Harvard’s, prioritize quality over quantity!
A great way of knowing when to provide details and how to focus is by establishing a theme in each of your essays. By establishing the main idea behind what you want to communicate in your responses, you can more easily identify what can be prioritized and what must be elaborated on.
Step 5: Tailor Your Responses to Each School
When crafting your MBA application essays, it’s crucial to keep the specific admissions committee in mind. After all, it’s not a story if it doesn’t have an audience! Thoroughly research each school you’re applying to, focusing on their values, courses that align with your goals, relevant clubs and organizations, and how the school’s community, location, and alumni network can support your career aspirations. Demonstrating a clear understanding of how you can contribute meaningfully to the MBA community will also strengthen your application.
By conducting this research upfront, you can tailor your stories and experiences to highlight aspects that resonate with the school’s unique qualities. This targeted approach will show the admissions committee that you have a strategic plan for your MBA and are a strong fit for their program. Approach your MBA application like a job application – you must be prepared to articulate how you will add value to the school during your time there and after graduation.
To achieve this, we recommend identifying the school’s core values and using them to guide the examples and themes you emphasize in your essays. Additionally, provide specific details about the activities and courses you plan to pursue and how you will apply that knowledge in your future career. You may even want to share relevant information you’ve learned about the school from students and alumni. Even if the application doesn’t include a question directly addressing your plans for your time at the school, find a way to organically integrate this information into at least one of your responses.
By following these guidelines and showcasing your genuine interest and fit with each school, you’ll be well on your way to submitting compelling MBA application essays that leave a lasting impression on the admissions committee.
Our Expert Storytellers Ensure Your Essays 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 tasks 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
