{"id":24489,"date":"2014-06-24T09:09:57","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T16:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=24489"},"modified":"2014-06-24T09:20:20","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T16:20:20","slug":"mba-essay-writing-tips-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/mba-essay-writing-tips-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Essay Writing Tips \u2013 Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"stcpDiv\">Most MBA programs have already published their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aringo.com\/MBA_Essay_topics.asp\" target=\"_blank\">updated essay questions for Fall 2015<\/a>. Writing the MBA application essays is usually the hardest part of the MBA admission process. In the next few weeks we\u2019ll bring here a few MBA essay tips and guidelines to help you successfully negotiate the essay writing process.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>After the <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/mba-essay-writing-tips-part-i\/\" target=\"_blank\">general essay tips<\/a> we brought you last week, today we'll go deeper and bring you advanced MBA essay tips:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>1. Promote the Admission Drivers<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Admission Drivers are the traits that admission committees look for in a candidate. For Example:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- Leader\/Manager - Led\/managed\/recruited people.<br \/>\n- Team Player\/Relationship Builder - Worked well with others, built relationships under difficult circumstances.<br \/>\n- Smart - GPA\/academic distinctions, GMAT, recommender reviews.<br \/>\n- Initiates - Initiated successful projects \/ changes.<br \/>\n- International\/Cultural - International orientation\/experience, cultural sensitivity.<br \/>\n- Presentation Skills - Public speaking (large audience is strongest - state the number of people), presenting to senior people, presenting to team.<br \/>\n- Persuasion Skills - Persuaded people (senior people in particular).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If a sentence doesn\u2019t promote an Admission Driver:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- Is it required in order to answer the question?<br \/>\n- If not, remove or replace it!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The king of Admission Drivers:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- Leadership<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where is our best chance to promote leadership?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- The Episode essay<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Focus on the Question<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Answer all segments of the question.<\/li>\n<li>Example: Describe one of your greatest achievements and why you view it as such<\/li>\n<li>Remove sentences that go beyond the scope of the question.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Focus on Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Avoid subjective terms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- Objective = it's either right or not.<br \/>\n- Subjective = it's a matter of opinion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Examples:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- \u201cWe completed the project 6 days ahead of schedule\u201c - objective<br \/>\n- \u201cWe completed the project quickly\" - subjective<br \/>\n- \u201cSingcom is a large company\" - subjective<br \/>\n- \u201cSingcom is Singapore's second largest company\u201c - objective<br \/>\n- \u201cThe project succeeded\u201c - subjective<br \/>\n- \"I felt that the project succeeded\" \u2013 objective (this is what I felt) but not \"hard facts\".<br \/>\n- \u201cIn the company\u2019s 2002 annual conference, the CEO cited the project as one of the company\u2019s 5 main successes of the year\u201d - objective, hard facts \u2013 this is the most effective of the above three.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 and Let the Reader Conclude<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Avoid \"spoon-feeding\" the reader with conclusions.<\/li>\n<li>Let the reader reach the conclusions.<\/li>\n<li>For example:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- \u201cFollowing my success in the project, I was promoted to Vice President\u201d \u2013 This is spoon feeding.<br \/>\n- \u201cFour weeks after the project ended, the CEO announced my promotion to Vice President\u201d - This is good! Let the reader conclude the project was successful.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Go Deep<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Go deep into the details<\/li>\n<li>Be as specific as possible<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>- \u201cI have learned how to delegate responsibilities\u201d - shallow<br \/>\n- \u201cI have learned that effective delegation of responsibilities requires clear definition of sub-goals\u201d - deep<br \/>\n- \u201cSingcom is one of Singapore\u2019s largest companies\u201d - shallow<br \/>\n- \u201cSingcom is Singapore\u2019s third-largest company\u201d \u2013 deep<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Make it interesting to read<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make the essay unique \/ bold \/ funny \/ suspenseful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some ways to achieve this:<br \/>\n\u2013 Suspense, drama<br \/>\n\u2013 Short paragraphs, short sentences, section titles<br \/>\n\u2013 By writing it as a script for a great movie<br \/>\n\u2013 By writing it as a chapter in a book<br \/>\n\u2013 By using unique, bold and funny ideas, stuff they never saw before. For example:<br \/>\nEssay Question: \"What would you do if you had 1 hour with our dean\"?<br \/>\nAnswer: \"I would lock the room from the inside. Until the security people break in, I will have at least two hours to convince him why Kellogg is my #1 choice\"<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Avoid Introductions and Summaries<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What do we mean by \u201cintroduction\u201d?<br \/>\n\u2013 \u201chere\u2019s what I will tell you about\u201d<\/li>\n<li>What do we mean by \u201csummary\u201d?<br \/>\n\u2013 \u201chere\u2019s what I told you about\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Why?<br \/>\n\u2013 Space is limited<br \/>\n\u2013 Patience is limited<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n7. Less is More<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why?<br \/>\n\u2013 Because they skim<\/li>\n<li>Keep the paragraphs at 3-5 lines.<\/li>\n<li>Keep the sentences \u201creal short\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid \"AND\".<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2013 What two things can you do to avoid \u201cand\u201d?<br \/>\n\u2013 \u201cI presented the background and my analysis\u201d<br \/>\n* Break sentences into two: \"I presented my background. I explained my analysis.\"<br \/>\n* Cut one \"wing\": \"I presented my analysis\" \u2013 this is best!<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. Use Orphan Sentences for the Key Points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2013 Because they skim<\/p>\n<p>Paragraph<br \/>\nParagraph<br \/>\nParagraph<\/p>\n<p>On April 3 I was appointed Vice Commander of the Submarine.<\/p>\n<p>Paragraph<br \/>\nParagraph<br \/>\nParagraph<\/p>\n<p><strong>9. Keep it Authentic<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2013 It helps chances<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>How do we keep the essay authentic?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The essays shouldn't present the candidate as a perfect person.<\/li>\n<li>If possible, some of the essays should be moving, sincere, introspective, emotional. Less so for Harvard.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n10. Modesty Wins<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How to be modest?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Admit mistakes<\/li>\n<li>Criticize yourself<\/li>\n<li>Be sincere<\/li>\n<li>Focus on the facts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n11. Episode essays: tell it as a chapter in a book.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Episode essays are stories (like: \"My greatest achievement\").<\/li>\n<li>Episode essay questions often begin with: \"tell us about a time when\u2026\".<\/li>\n<li>Effective episode essays are told like chapters in a book. They often use quotes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n12. Use Optional Space!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chance to promote candidacy further<\/li>\n<li>Shows commitment to the school<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That's it. Next week we'll focus on specific essay tips by school.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aringo.com\/MBA_specializations.htm\" target=\"_blank\">MBA Specializations<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aringo.com\/mba_admission_chances_calculator.htm\">Free MBA chances calculator (no registration required)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aringo.com\/Registration.htm\">Get an initial assessment<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aringo.com\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-19462\" alt=\"aringoLogo3\" src=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/aringoLogo3.jpg\" width=\"174\" height=\"44\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most MBA programs have already published their updated essay questions for Fall 2015. Writing the MBA application essays is usually the hardest part of the MBA admission process. In the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,945,775,113,243],"tags":[811,282],"class_list":["post-24489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-aringo","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-essay-tips","tag-mba-application-essays","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24489"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24491,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24489\/revisions\/24491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}