{"id":24028,"date":"2014-05-23T10:03:17","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T17:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/harvard-business-school-mba-essay-analysis-your-2015-app\/"},"modified":"2014-05-23T10:03:17","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T17:03:17","slug":"harvard-business-school-mba-essay-analysis-your-2015-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/harvard-business-school-mba-essay-analysis-your-2015-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard Business School MBA Essay Analysis, Your 2015 App"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you ready to dig into your essays? Application essays are specifically and cleverly designed to get into your head. We like to turn the tables on the admissions committees and get inside their<\/i> heads. Why are they asking these questions? What are they looking for? Read on as our experts break down application essay questions to help YOU plan the attack.<\/h3>\n
Essay One<\/a><\/div>\n
\nAight, I’m pumped! Where to next?<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CHECK OUT OUR MBA ESSAY WRITING GUIDE \u279d <\/div>\n

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SIGN UP FOR A FREE PROFILE EVALUATION \u279d <\/div>\n

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You\u2019re applying to Harvard Business School. We can see your resume, academic transcripts, extracurricular activities, awards, post-MBA career intentions, test scores, and what your recommenders have to say about you. What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?
\nThere is no set word limit for the essay.<\/h5>\n

You\u2019re applying to Harvard Business School. We can see your resume, academic transcripts, extracurricular activities, awards, post-MBA career intentions, test scores, and what your recommenders have to say about you. What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?
\nThere is no set word limit for the essay.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the question again, stripped of all the surrounding fluff?<\/p>\n

What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

They\u2019re sending a message. To repeat something is to waste an opportunity. You have a shot to do something cool here. To show that you\u2019re a leader, a doer, a \u201chas success written all over him\u201d guy. But so, how do you do it?!<\/p>\n

Well, first things first. There\u2019s no word limit on the Harvard Business School MBA essay, true, but there IS such a thing as too long a response here. Let\u2019s put it differently. The guy with insane credentials, insane natural assets won\u2019t need to write much. That may make the guy who DOES feel the need to write a lot seem like he\u2019s\u2026. over compensating? While there\u2019s no word limit, we\u2019re not sure your final product needs to be much more than 600 words or so. 700 maybe as a max, but if you\u2019re going overboard, it\u2019s gonna likely feel strained.<\/p>\n

So what do you do with 400, or 500 words?<\/p>\n

Well, let us ask you a question. Why do you<\/em> think you belong at Harvard Business School<\/a>? Let\u2019s assume for a second that Harvard is the ultimate in business school education, in terms of experience, career prospects, all that stuff. Let\u2019s just pretend, even if you don\u2019t buy it. Pretend it\u2019s the best, and that more qualified people want a seat there than there are seats. What is it about you that makes you feel like one of those seats belongs to you?<\/p>\n

Seriously. What?<\/p>\n

What STUFF about you makes you feel like you should be rubbing elbows with the elitest of the elite? (It\u2019s a hard question to answer, but as an exercise\u2014skin it that way, see what happens.)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s further pretend that you went ahead with that exercise and generated a bullet point list of STUFF, reasons you belong at HBS. Or a short paragraph. Something. What do you DO with this now? How does this become the beginnings of an essay?<\/p>\n

Well, we\u2019re not there yet. This exercise may or may not become anything\u2014but it can be an incredibly interesting thing to articulate in your own head. Put it aside for now, let\u2019s figure out how to WRITE this sucker.<\/p>\n

Imagine sitting across from the HBS guys reviewing your app. And imagine saying this to him (literally, say this out loud, feel what it\u2019s like to say\/think it):<\/p>\n

\u2022 You know my GMAT
\n\u2022 You know my GPA
\n\u2022 You\u2019ve seen what I\u2019ve accomplished thus far in my career
\n\u2022 You\u2019ve seen evidence of leadership from my resume
\n\u2022 You\u2019ve heard from others (my recommenders) that I\u2019m a born leader, along with a bunch of other Harvard-worthy things
\n\u2022 You don\u2019t need a reason for why I wanna go to Harvard because it\u2019s like asking someone why they want the best thing instead of the second best thing
\n\u2022 You know all of that\u2014and you\u2019re compelled, but you wanna hear one more thing about me\u2014one other THING about what I\u2019m all about, or what I\u2019ve done, something I have in the works, some\u2026 THING to help you realize that offering me a seat is the best decision YOU could ever make; well here goes:<\/p>\n

{What follows from all that?}<\/p>\n

Any obvious contenders for what fills that space? Is there one obvious thing you simply MUST talk about? Several? Well, choosing this \u201cthing\u201d is gonna be hard. And you may decide the \u201cthing\u201d needs to be captured in three buckets, not just one. But if you go that route, be careful not to spread yourself too thin because too much stuff can start to seem\u2026 compensatory. Brevity, strength of position, confidence, all that stuff matters here. This is Harvard, just look at how much they wanna know about you? Very little\u2014so don\u2019t give \u2018em the library of Congress.<\/p>\n

Give them something substantive. Something assertive. Something badass. Something that makes the reader go\u2026 \u201cYah, that IS a reason to give this guy a seat here.\u201d Or, more practically-speaking, \u201cYah, that IS a reason to call this kid in for an interview.\u201d (Cuz that\u2019s the main objective here right? Give ‘em JUST enough that they want to MEET you. You\u2019ll never give them enough to offer you an admit-without-interview.)<\/p>\n

Before you put pen to paper, let\u2019s talk about one more step. Once you\u2019ve identified the THING or THINGS, ask yourself WHY this should put you over the top. Don\u2019t gloss over it, force yourself to ARTICULATE it. If you can\u2019t, guess what\u2026 your \u201cthing\u201d may need some re-thinking. Don\u2019t take this lightly, folks; articulating this is gonna be hard as hell. But if you\u2019re able to do it, you\u2019ll be able to develop your argument much more effectively.<\/p>\n

Think about selling a physical product. Like a pen. Or a brand of tea. Or a particular television model. Why should someone own THAT particular brand? Yes, it may have many virtues in the abstract, but why must A CERTAIN SOMEONE actually care about those things? That\u2019s when you start to acquaint YOURSELF with the product\u2019s intrinsic VALUE. Yes this pen can write with this amount of thickness, has ink that will last this long, and on and on and on. But\u2026 why must CONSUMER X own it?<\/p>\n

Figure out why Harvard must hear about this THING or these THINGS you wanna tell them. If you can\u2019t articulate it\u2026 may mean you need to do some more soul-searching. If you can, start making that case, not by articulating that reason\u2014but by DEMONSTRATING it through your storytelling skills.<\/p>\n

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