Royal - Secrets to Getting into Business School: Writing Application Essays

Copyright 2010, 2013 by Brandon Royal

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

Published by:

Maven Publishing
4520 Manilla Road, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 4B7
www.mavenpublishing.com

Correspondence Address in Asia:

GPO Box 440
Central, Hong Kong

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication:

Royal, Brandon
Secrets to getting into business school - writing application essays / by Brandon Royal.

ISBN 978-1-897393-83-3 (eBook)

This eBook presents Chapter 3: Writing the Classic MBA Essays, Chapter 4: Writing the Other MBA Essays, Chapter 5: Writing Optional Essays, and Chapter 10: Packaging Your MBA Essays and Application, as excerpted from the parent eBook/paperback Secrets to Getting into Business School.

Technical Credits:

Cover Design: George Foster, Fairfield, Iowa, USA
Editing: Rosa Cays, Tempe, Arizona, USA

GMAT is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admission Council, which neither sponsors nor endorses this product.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Your key to applying to business school

A word about diversity

What does this book cover?

CHAPTER 1: WHAT ARE SCHOOLS REALLY LOOKING FOR?

Overview

The seven MBA application components

The order in which application components are reviewed

From the numbers side GMAT

From the numbers side GPA

GMAT scores vs. GPA

GMAT scores vs. quality of MBA application essays

How do acceptance rates affect a candidates admissions chances?

Ten important application tips

CHAPTER 2: 20 MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED MBA ADMISSIONS QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 6: RESUME AND EMPLOYMENT RECORD

Introduction

Seven tips for a more impressive rsum or employment record

Sample presentations employment summary sheets and employment records

CHAPTER 7: LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

Introduction

Getting a detailed recommendation

Seven tips for getting good letters of recommendation

The mechanics of a good letter of recommendation

Sample letters of recommendation

CHAPTER 8: EXTRACURRICULAR PRESENTATIONS

Introduction

Two tips for presenting extracurriculars

Sample presentations

CHAPTER 9: INTERVIEWS

Introduction

Twelve things to do for your business school interviews

Interview policies at the leading business schools

Appendix I Summary of MBA Admissions Strategies 1 to 100

Appendix II GMAT & MBA Informational Websites

Appendix III Contact Information for the Worlds Leading Business Schools

Appendix IV Evaluating Your MBA Programs

Appendix V Flowcharting the MBA Admissions Process

Appendix VI MBA Application Tracking Sheets

Appendix VII How to Get the Most Out of Your Business School Experience

On a Personal Note

Praise for Secrets to Getting into Business School

About the Author

Chapter 3

Writing the Classic MBA Essays

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Joseph Pulitzer

INTRODUCTION

Application essays are arguably the most important of all admissions components. Essays are subjective in nature but it is this subjective element that gives them that extra weight in the admissions process. Here is your chance to tell your story and interpret events in your own way. Essays are sometimes referred to as interviews on paper. Regardless of whether or not this is true, with the possible exception of the interview, essays are the closest that the admissions committee can get to knowing the real you.

WHAT TYPES OF ESSAYS ARE THERE?

Business school essays are subject to considerable variety. They may vary based on the number of required essays, the length of a given essay, and the type of essay question asked. The number of essays may range from two to eight depending on the school, while the length of essays may vary from a couple of paragraphs to three or more pages; in terms of word count, essays may vary from 100 words to 1,000 words. There are effectively ten different types of essays:

1. Who are you?
2. Career goals
3. Why an MBA?
4. Why XYZ school?
5. Background and diversity
6. Strengths and weaknesses
7. Greatest accomplishments, leadership, or team building
8. Overcoming difficult situations
9. Analyze a business situation
10. Wildcard questions

In short, there are two broad classifications of essay questions. The first is the who are you? type question, which seeks to pinpoint your personal character, motivations, and diversity. Often other essay types are used that mimic the who are you? type essay and these include: background and diversity, strengths and weaknesses, greatest accomplishments, leadership, or team building, overcoming difficult situations, and wildcard essay questions.

The second major essay type is the career goals essay. The career goals essay is ubiquitous and found in every business school application. The primary purpose in asking this type of question is to find out what you plan to do with your future and to capture important elements of your professional background. Often the career goals essay question is combined, for practical reasons, with the third and/or fourth essay questions, why an MBA? and why XYZ school?

Although there are ten different application essay types, the first four may be considered classic essays: who are you?, career goals, why an MBA?, and why XYZ school?

Business schools change their essays from year to year, but invariably incorporate one or more of the classic essay types within each application. The purpose of these four essays is to find out what kind of person you are, where your career is headed, why you want an MBA, and why a particular business school is the right choice for you. There is no better place to begin a discussion of essay writing than with a review of the best approaches on how to write the classic MBA application essays.

Important Note: Candidate names, corporate names, and dates appearing throughout the sample essays and documents in this book may have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the persons or organizations involved. In some cases, essay content may have been modified for presentational purposes. The current trend in MBA admissions essays is for shorter essays of approximately 400 to 1,000 words.

Essay questions asked by business school are subject to change. As one business school drops one or more questions and replaces them with new questions, another business school will choose to add a question similar to the one dropped by another school. Broadly speaking, the kinds of essay questions asked by a business school has not changed substantially during the past ten years. The overriding goal in choosing essays for this chapter (and Chapters 4 and 5) entails choosing essays that are recurring in nature. Essays written in response to typical questions provide the best learning tools.

The sample essays included in this book provide candidates with examples of essay writing principles in practice. The actual business school essays that each candidate writes should contain his or her ideas and words, but any candidate is welcome to follow the approaches contained in these sample essays.

SNAPSHOT FOR WRITING THE WHO ARE YOU? ESSAY