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<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nHis response, penned in a few minutes on a bar napkin, won him $10 from each challenger: \u2028\u201cFor sale: baby shoes. Never worn.\u201d<\/p>\n
UC Berkeley Haas<\/strong> showed some literary panache in setting\u00a0this challenge to MBA applicants this season in its new essay question: \u201cTell us a six-word story that reflects a memorable experience in your life-to-date.\u201d (Whether you can submit your answer on a bar napkin is unclear.)<\/p>\n You also get 250 words to elaborate on why your six-word story is meaningful to you. The heart of the challenge, which replaces \u201cchoose one song that expresses who you are,\u201d is to distill an emblematic experience into something autobiographical and memorable.<\/p>\n So where to start? Haas Associate Dean for the Full-time MBA Program and Admissions, Pete Johnson, offered the following advice during the\u00a0Admissions Director Panel at the CentreCourt MBA Festival<\/a> in New York: \u201cBe courageous,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cI think a lot of applicants say \u2018well, you know, I\u2019m an engineer but what I really want to do is work in digital music\u2019, and they write it out and they show it to their partner or whoever who says, \u2018no don\u2019t write that, they\u2019ll think you\u2019re crazy!\u2019 When people do that, it goes flat. When somebody really tells us what they\u2019re enthusiastic about it literally leaps off the screen when we read those things. \u201c<\/p>\n I suppose the napkin option is out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe worst thing that you can do it be afraid and try to give the safe answer,\u201d Johnson emphasizes. \u201cBe courageous and tell us who you really are and what you want out of business school, and I think that you will find that strategy will take you all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Haas Executive Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions, Morgan Bernstein, provides some great\u00a0advice<\/a>\u00a0for the essays\u00a0on the program’s website.<\/p>\n Given that a good story contains a beginning, middle and end \u2013 a mighty feat in six words \u2013 the Haas six-word story is a prime example of shorter not being simpler. To paraphrase a literary maxim often attributed to Mark Twain, \u2018If I had more time I\u2019d have written a shorter letter.\u2019<\/p>\n My Fortuna Admissions colleague Sharon Joyce, Haas\u2019s former Associate Director of Admissions, says, \u201cThe\u00a0six-word essay prompt allows the admissions committee to understand \u2018what makes you tick\u2019 up and beyond what they’ve already gleaned from your work history and academic record. Write not what you think sounds so very b-school, but rather share your authenticity and sense of purpose.\u00a0It\u2019s an opportunity to share an experience where you went beyond yourself to succeed, or grew in confidence from a lesson in failure.”<\/p>\n Sharon advises to first think about the memorable experience and why it might have proved to be a particularly rewarding challenge or brought you great satisfaction. \u201cThere is no right story other than your own,\u201d she adds, \u201cand this isn\u2019t an exercise in grammar. First, think about what you want you want Haas to take away from the essay before you try to capture that experience in six words.\u201d<\/p>\n For some entertainment and inspiration, you can explore some clever submissions from a six-word memoir contest\u00a0featured on NPR<\/a>, including the irreverent, \u201cMet wife at her bachelorette party.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere among the applications at the top MBA programs this season there is no change among essay questions for Stanford GSB, Wharton or Harvard. For the 13th year running, the GSB still wants to know \u201cwhat matters to you most and why?\u201d Wharton asks about your professional aspirations and how you\u2019d contribute to its community. And HBS persists with its open-ended, \u201cwhat would you like us to know\u201d question (nary a word limit for guidance).<\/p>\n This year, MIT Sloan joins INSEAD, LBS, UT Rotman and Northwestern Kellogg in requiring a video statement, asking candidates to introduce themselves briefly on camera. It\u2019s a positive evolution in terms of\u00a0bringing your candidacy to life, offering an opportunity to express yourself beyond your paper application and for the admissions committee to see you in action. MIT is assessing how well you express yourself within the context of fit with its culture and program. Remember that the admissions committee will also be gauging your ability to think on your feet, language skills, confidence, and presentation style.<\/p>\n Northwestern Kellogg revised its opening question about leadership qualities to hone in on \u201c\u2026 a time you have demonstrated leadership and created lasting value. What challenges did you face, and what did you learn?\u201d For context, it shares Kellogg\u2019s purpose \u201cto educate, equip & inspire brave leaders who create lasting value,\u201d explicitly reinforcing the qualities the program looks to engender. In recasting its questions, Kellogg is also reframing as an invitation to showcase impact and leadership qualities, which can transcend position or role, versus a focus on a recent leadership role (formerly, \u201cdescribe a recent and meaningful time you were a leader\u201d). There is leadership that\u2019s taken and leadership that\u2019s given \u2013 this is a chance to respond from a multitude of angles.<\/p>\n Columbia refreshed several of its essay questions. It\u2019s first question regarding career goals, for example, now asks you to articulate \u201c\u2026what, in your imagination, would be your long-term dream job?\u201d It also wants to know about \u201cyour personal priorities\u201d and how \u201cyou anticipate allocating your time\u201d (versus its former angle, which wanted to know how you\u2019d take advantage of being \u201cat the very center of business\u201d on its NYC campus). Perhaps the most creative addition is an overhaul of essay #3, which asks for a response to one of two questions: \u201cIf you were given a free day and could spend it anywhere, in any way you choose, what would you do?\u201d or \u201cPlease tell us what you feel most passionate about in life.\u201d These types of questions allow you to expand into terrain that shows your inspirations and influences , so give yourself ample time to play with ideas. You increase the chances of your audience\u2019s enjoyment in reading it when you allow yourself some fun in writing it.<\/p>\n Cornell Johnson, like Columbia, wants to know more specifically about your post-grad career plans. This season, in addition to its two essays, the school is asking for a detailed \u201cGoals Statement,\u201d which asks you to fill in the blanks of pre-scripted short and long term goals statements, as follows:<\/p>\n Immediately post-MBA, my goal is to work as a(n) ____[Role]____ at ___[Company]___within___[Industry]___.Among other top schools, the most notable new essays are from Northwestern Kellogg<\/strong>, Columbia<\/strong> and MIT Sloan<\/strong>, as well as Johnson Cornell<\/strong>.<\/h3>\n
\nIn 5 \u2013 10 years post-MBA, my goal is to work as a(n) ____[Role]____ at ___[Company]___within___[Industry]___.<\/p>\n