![Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [2022 - 2023]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Georgetown_McD_Tips_2022-2023.jpg)
Georgetown’s MBA application essay questions and video component remain the same as last year, however there are three essay options as opposed to last year’s four.
My advice is below for each of Georgetown’s prompts.
Georgetown MBA application essays 2022–2023
We want to hear your story. When responding to our required essays, be authentic and take time to reflect on your goals and past experiences. Craft a response that explains how these experiences led you to pursue an MBA.
Our goal at Georgetown McDonough is to craft a diverse class with people who have had varying personal and professional life experiences. As such, we want to give our applicants the opportunity to select one essay (from a list of three) that allows them the ability to best highlight their experiences, characteristics, and values that showcase the value proposition they can bring to the McDonough community. Please select one of the following three essays to complete in 300-350 words (approximately one page, double spaced) and include the essay prompt and your first/last name at the top of your submission.
The first issue you need to address is which question to answer. All three prompts below ask you to use examples of either a specific challenging experience or a particular individual whom you view as a leader. The goal of your response is to allow the readers to see you as a distinctive contributor to the Georgetown McDonough community by showcasing how you have addressed one of these three experiences.
So which should you choose? Respond to the question that you can answer most enthusiastically and easily while providing insight that complements material presented elsewhere in your MBA application.
As you’re choosing, review Georgetown’s mission and the influence of Jesuit values on the school. Then think about which of your experiences shows that you identify with those values and will contribute to Georgetown’s community.
Also realize that regardless of the option you choose, Georgetown is asking for one example and your reflection on that example. It is not asking for a general, lofty treatise on a topic with no example, and it’s not asking for multiple examples without analysis. It wants one example and a thoughtful response to its question(s) about that incident or individual.
Georgetown MBA essay option #1: Principled Leadership
Georgetown McDonough places a strong emphasis on principled leadership, providing both curricular and co-curricular opportunities to strengthen your leadership skills. Describe a time when you have led a team in a professional environment to implement a new idea or process. What leadership characteristics did you utilize? What could you have done to be more effective? And most importantly, what skills will you be able to bring to the teams you lead at McDonough?
To address the prompt, discuss when you have led in a professional setting and implemented, or created something new. What character traits and leadership skills did you use? Analyze their effectiveness, good and bad, and identify the most successful as those you will bring to Georgetown McDonough.
Georgetown MBA essay option #2: Hoyas for the Common Good
Georgetown McDonough embodies the ethos that people and organizations can and should contribute to the greater good. The admissions committee would like to better understand how you have demonstrated these values during uniquely challenging times. Describe a time where you have put the needs of others ahead of your own or ahead of the bottom line. We look forward to learning more about the challenge you faced, what unique characteristics you brought to that scenario, and what you learned from it.
This essay is asking for an anecdote. Tell the story of a time when you contributed “for the greater good,” a cause that you believed in, or a value that is important to you. Alternatively, describe how you created some societal benefit even if there was no benefit for you individually.
You can follow the structure that Georgetown McDonough provides. Start with the challenge you faced. Then describe how you addressed those challenges, and the results you achieved. Finally, what did you learn from this experience about responding to a challenge, about putting principle above principal, and about yourself?
Georgetown MBA essay option #3: The Georgetown Community
Georgetown McDonough is a diverse, global community. We look to understand the contribution that your personal background would make to our community. As appropriate, you may wish to address any obstacles or challenges you have overcome; any educational, familial, cultural, economic, and social experiences that have helped to shape your educational and professional goals; or how your background (e.g. first-generation student, resident outside the U.S.) or activities (e.g. community service and leadership) will contribute to our community.
This is a personal background essay. How has your unique background influenced you and the development of your goals? How will it allow you to contribute to the McDonough class and its rich diversity?
You could start this essay with a story that illustrates this distinctive and influential aspect of your background and then bring it forward. How has it motivated you? How has it shaped your values? How does it guide and influence your behavior, actions, and goals? And finally, as a result of its profound impact, how are you going to add to your class at Georgetown?
Watch: Shelly Heinrich, Associate Dean of MBA Admissions at Georgetown McDonough, on the most common application mistakes
Georgetown MBA video essay
Building a cohort of diverse and unique individuals is important to the admissions team. We want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. Throughout the application, we’ve learned about what you would add as a professional and leader. Just as important is learning about your interests outside of work. In one minute, please describe a hobby, passion, or what you do for fun in your free time- and why.
- You may use your phone, computer, or other means to record the video, but please ensure all audio and visual components are clear. We recommend a well-lit room and minimal noise distraction.
- The admissions committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video.
- We recommend unscripted, conversational videos – help us get to know the real you!
- Upload your video to an accessible website (such as YouTube, Vimeo, Youku, or Tudou), and submit the direct video URL into your online application.
- Please note that all videos must remain active and accessible to the admissions committee online for a minimum of five years for record retention purposes.
- For your privacy: Do not include your name in the title of your video. You may submit “unlisted” videos via YouTube or password protected videos through Vimeo. If using a password, please include immediately after your link in the text box below. [Ex: www.youtube.com/123, password: Hoyas]
Remember that your audience has already seen your resume, essays, and probably the rest of your application; you certainly don’t want to bore them by rehashing what they just read.
What would you want them to know about you that they don’t know and that reflects the non-professional you? The fun you? The passionate, involved you?
You want to provide something different from spreadsheet skills or professional mojo here. Use the video essay to reveal something that is not work-related. Take the time to sketch out what you want to say in these sixty seconds. I don’t recommend that you write it out and memorize it, but definitely have a plan. And then practice, practice, practice.
It can be strange to speak to a camera. Since by its very nature the camera gives no feedback and has no reaction, you need to either practice by yourself and view the videos of your practices so that you improve, or ask an encouraging friend to film you so that at least you have your friend’s reactions to respond to. Another idea: ask a friend to have a video call with you, but with their camera turned off so that your friend can see you, but you don’t see your friend. Then ask for feedback.
What is the Georgetown admissions committee looking for in this video? They are trying to imagine you as a member of their community. They also want to see how you present yourself without going to the trouble and expense of an interview.
Georgetown MBA optional essay
Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).
Please see Optional Essays: When and How to Write Them.
Georgetown MBA reapplicant essay
Required for re-applicants: How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).
This is a key question (whether asked explicitly or not) for all reapplicants to any MBA program. What have you changed? How are you “new and improved” since your previous application when you were rejected? Georgetown does you the favor of providing this explicit prompt so you can address this question while retaining the ability to address the main essays.
Georgetown McDonough at a glance
Georgetown McDonough MBA average GMAT score: 704
Georgetown McDonough MBA average GPA: 3.35
Georgetown McDonough MBA acceptance rate: 48.1%
U.S. News ranked Georgetown McDonough #22 in 2023.
Check out the Business School Selectivity Index for more stats.
You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your Georgetown McDonough application. In a hotly competitive season, you’ll want a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Check out our flexible consulting packages today!
Georgetown MBA application deadlines 2022 – 2023
| Application Deadline | |
| Round 1 | September 28, 2022 |
| Round 2 | January 5, 2023 |
| Round 3 | March 30, 2023 |
| Round 4 | May 2, 2023 |
Source: Georgetown McDonough website
Stay on top of MBA deadlines with the MBA Admissions Calendar!
[Click here to add the calendar to your Google calendar; or here to add the calendar to another app.]
***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with individual programs to verify the essay questions, instructions and deadlines.***
Check out our School-Specific MBA Application Essay Tips
By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted. Linda earned her bachelors and MBA at UCLA, and has been advising applicants since 1994 when she founded Accepted. Linda is the co-founder and first president of AIGAC. She has written or co-authored 13 e-books on the admissions process, and has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News, Poets & Quants, Bloomberg Businessweek, CBS News, and others. Linda is the host of Admissions Straight Talk, a podcast for graduate school applicants. Want an admissions expert to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!
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