I can't really explaiin what makes great essays, but when I see it, I know it.

What do you think makes your essays standout besides having the obvious unique background.

I would become an admissions consultant if I knew the answer to that- better $$$'s

It's like the criteria for judging whether something is art or pornography. I'll know it when I see it!

But seriously, an essay that is detailed, shows excitement/passion, not too wordy, to the point, and well structured usually does well with the adcom. If anyone has to re-read the paragraph or essay again because they had a "WTF" moment, that's not good.

I agree with almost everything DrivinWest said, except for the "starting every essay from scratch" part.

That issue has been debated to death, but again, if you satisfy the requirements of:

1. Answer the question
2. Be specific
3. Talk about your personal and professional passions
4. Show your excitement for the school
5. Clearly demonstrate you need an MBA

It doesn't really matter whether you wrote an essay from scratch or reused portions of a previous essay. Even the adcoms said that they can smell a reused essay from a mile away, but they don't really mind if you answer the question completely.

I did make sure I changed "goals" to "aspirations" for my schools, even though I still used "goals" because it made more sense than repeating "aspirations" 10 times (i.e. I used word diversity, synonyms).

Otherwise, I reused bits and pieces of my essays here and there for all my schools. Who knows if I'll get into any of them, but I did check multiple times that the essays as a whole answer the question.

But river, in this case how would you define "stellar"?

An essay that is lucid and presents the ideas in vivid detail, or
An essay that is filled with creativity and imagination, or
An essay that according to kryzak is like enduring root canal (too technical, boring, but very planned and answers questions to the point).

I believe a good essay is one that answers the question correctly. Correctly as in leaving no doubts in the ad-com's mind and not making anyone pose "but, if, why" questions.

I agree that the essay has to make a positive impression on the reader's mind. It has to be strong to make the reader go wow.. that was good

This idea has been implemented and I think Praet is the right guy to talk about it. We have not had much success from 07ers but hopefully the curret batch, once done with apps, invites and admits will post some essays.

Obviously you need to answer the question but I wouldn't worry about getting every little word right as much as the vision right. Find your strengths and play to them. I had a very unique background so I used that, its not a typical MBA path, so I tried to turn that into a positive. If you come from a very tough demographic you are going to have to sell that you are "better" than all those others.

Remember you aren't competing against the entier pool of applicants because no school is going to fill up their class with 80% IB or 90% consultants. They want a balance so in reality you are competing against the people like you who are hoping to get into the Y% of seats they set aside for people of that background. Thats why the rumor is that Indians have such a tough hill to climb because a lot have similar stories, academics, work, backgrounds, etc...

So if everyone who is an IT person is writing about how great they are at developing this program and they do it in record time then you don't want to be part of the crowd. You do have to be honest but you also need to make an impact. I think thats why everyone talks so much about extracurriculars, that is what seperates people from the crowd of similar folks.

However, standing out has two problems. 1) you can totally fall on your face by being too far outside the box (my fear) or 2) it can come across as a bunch of BS.

When, a week after reading it, I remember something from it.

oh boy, do we all know it. I don't think I can relax until I get into at least a school and pay my deposit. Like rhyme said, 412 days of hell may be over then and only then.

Hahah rhyme ... where do you get the time ???