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This year’s suite of MBA essays from the Stanford GSB, two required, two optional short-answer, present a formidable exercise in self-awareness – to understand why we do the things we do, why we make certain choices in life, and the opportunities and challenges we face. Take this on as a personal feat, not just a series of MBA essay questions.
“Stanford is looking not just for extremely bright and successful professionals, but also young people who have strong values, and who want to have a positive impact in the world,” says Fortuna’s Heidi Hillis, Stanford GSB alum and former alumni interviewer. “The school genuinely wants to get to know you and to understand your values. Stanford MBAs are driven by a desire not just to excel in their careers but also to help others and to have a positive impact. The Stanford GSB admissions office works very hard to bring together a group of students who are open, humble and have strong integrity, which leads to the incredible level of camaraderie and trust that you find at the school. This is really core to Stanford’s brand and the identity of its community.”
Register today to join our live strategy session discussing essay advice for Stanford GSB, HBS & Wharton this Wed., July 29 at noon ET, hosted by Poets&Quants. The first in our series of MBA Admissions Essay Masterclasses features the Fortuna Admissions team’s insights and advice as former gatekeepers at the world’s top business schools.
Below find our team’s tangible guidance on how to tackle each question, along with the Stanford GSB is looking for.
Essay A. “What Matters Most to You and Why” (approx. 650 words)
This notorious essay is at the heart of the MBA application to the Stanford GSB, and typically ties applicants in knots as they try to come up with an answer that they hope is clever, striking, or even profound. The school is looking not just for extremely bright and successful individuals, but also people who have strong values and want to have a positive impact in the world. Taking the time to really think about this question provides invaluable insight about your life purpose and values, and the true you that emerges from this introspection helps the GSB to evaluate fit and diversity of contribution to the class.
To best tackle the structure of this essay, start with identifying a person, event, or experience that greatly impacted you, and think about the morals, values, and lessons you gained from this experience or interaction. How do you use these lessons today, and how do they impact your drive, your motivation, and your vision of the world? Perhaps you can link them to the development of your career and the life choices you have made? This is a place to get personal, dig deep and to be courageous.
Even though you might have to spend hours on this essay through brainstorming, research, talking with others, writing a draft, then another (and then another), just remember that it’s all inside you… it’s your story, and you just have to find it and pull it out.
For more guidance on this question, view my analysis in Forbes.
Essay B. “Why Stanford” (approx. 400 words)
If the first essay is about your past and present, the second essay is about your future. In this essay, Stanford asks you to explain your decision to pursue graduate education in management and the distinctive opportunities you will pursue at Stanford. Here, your school research really needs to shine. What classes, clubs, events or other elements of the program and community will catalyze the impact you are aiming to make in the short, medium and long term? Dig deep and get specific, show Stanford that you’ve done more than just read the GSB website.
(Optional) Essay 1. “Think about times you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others? You are welcome to share up to three examples.” (200 words for each example)
Introduced for the first time in 2019, this short answer question is a valuable invitation to reveal where you’ve been most impactful with both substance and specificity (you’ll do well not to consider it optional). Behind this question is Stanford GSB’s belief that past behavior is the best predictor of future potential. It’s very likely your examples will appear in other parts of the application: a bullet on the resume, a story used to support the recommendation – even on the application itself, which asks you to talk about your “most significant accomplishment” for each job. As such, this is your opportunity to GO DEEPER, not repeat something that may be found elsewhere. Your responses need to add value to your overall application. They should support the essays and the rest of the application, in highlighting WHY you find each circumstance to be impactful.
Optional essay 2. Tell us about a time within the last three years when your background influenced your participation at work or school. (180 words)
In asking this question, the GSB seeks to uncover the less visible forces that shape candidates’ lives, opportunities, decisions, and achievements. This optional essay is a way for the admissions committee to recognize the challenges – or privileges – certain applicants face to get to where they are, even when students themselves may not see them as distinctive or noteworthy. Like the required essays, answering this question in an authentic and compelling way requires a both substantial introspection and self-awareness. It’s a powerful recognition that up and beyond your test scores, transcripts, and career achievements, prospective students come from very different backgrounds and life circumstances that shape both their character and decision-making in invisible ways. Similar to the Berkeley Haas optional essay, which made its debut in 2018, it’s a signal that the GSB wants to support the admissions committee’s decision-making by supplying a full and rich understanding of who each applicant truly is.
When you understand and articulate what matters most to you, along with the forces that shape you, you’re claiming a self-awareness and clarity of purpose that set you up for success not just at business school, but also with relationships and career. Stanford wants to know what matters most to you, and so should you.
Register today to join a live strategy session discussing essay advice for Stanford GSB, HBS & Wharton this Wed., July 29 at noon ET. The first in our series of MBA Admissions Essay Masterclasses features the Fortuna Admissions team’s insights and advice as former gatekeepers at the world’s top business schools.
Fortuna Admissions Co-Founder and Director Matt Symonds is Business education industry expert and columnist for Forbes, The Economist, BusinessWeek, the BBC, among other publications. For more free advice and a personal, candid assessment of your chances, you can sign up now for a free consultation.
