There are multiple reasons behind this changing trend of requiring fewer and shorter MBA application essays. First, Admission officers have thousands of applications to review, so they don’t want to be overburdened with too many essays filled with overly lengthy paragraphs or sentences. Reducing number of essays and their word limits will definitely ease the burden of the admission committee. Secondly, schools expect their prospective students to be original and innovative. Sara Neher, assistant dean for MBA admissions at UV Darden School of Business, explains that they moved to single essay of 500 words three years ago because they discovered “applicants were writing one essay specifically for Darden and then recycling essays from their applications to other schools.”
Furthermore, by expecting you to answer the essay questions within the stringent word limits, B schools aim to evaluate you for your ability to make your point concisely and succinctly without beating around the bush. Lastly, I believe exceeding word limit reflects the applicants’ unwillingness to follow the guidelines.
In my article titled B - School Application Essays– ‘Less is More ‘ I have provided some examples from my student essays illustrating how you can tell your story in few words by using some strategy tips. Here is the link to the article:
https://myessayreview.com/blogs/?p=1837I hope it helped.