Earlier this week, Stanford announced its application deadlines for the \u201923-\u201924 admissions cycle and confirmed that its main essay questions will remain unchanged next year. Round 1 applications will be due on September 12, 2023 and Round 2 applications will be due on January 4, 2024. Given the reflection and iteration required to craft a compelling Stanford application, it\u2019s never too early to get started on the essays. As such, today we\u2019re arming you with our best Stanford MBA essay tips. Read on to help get your brain churning!<\/p>\n
Both essays combined may not exceed 1,050 words. Stanford GSB admissions recommends up to 650 words for Essay A and up to 400 words for Essay B.<\/p>\n
Note that Stanford\u2019s application has historically also included two optional short answer questions, which we recommend clients complete. As the school has not explicitly confirmed that these questions will remain the same next year, we are holding off on sharing our guidance right now. More to come once they do, however!<\/p>\n
Before you think about putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys, as the case may be), it\u2019s critical to take the time to truly understand Stanford GSB and what it looks for in successful applicants. To us, the best encapsulation of this can be found in the GSB\u2019s mission statement: \u201cChange lives. Change organizations. Change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
While many business schools aspire to educate leaders that will make a difference in the world, there is a reason that \u2018change lives\u2019 comes first in this motto. The GSB embraces a strong belief that change originates from people. People with different perspectives interacting, challenging each other, and ultimately joining forces to push the limits of what seems possible. No man or woman can create change in a vacuum.<\/p>\n
In practice, we find that successful applicants personify this mission statement by displaying the following characteristics:<\/p>\n
Attempting to crystallize what matters most to you is incredibly intimidating! If you\u2019re digging deep enough, figuring this out is not something that can be done in a day or even a week. That\u2019s why starting early is critical.<\/p>\n
To begin, we love suggesting that clients read two great books, True North<\/a> by Bill George and What You\u2019re Really Meant to Do<\/a> by Robert Kaplan. Give thought to where you dream of taking your career (and life more broadly) and why.<\/p>\n From there, it can be helpful to think back to each major decision you\u2019ve made in your life and reflect on why you made the choice you did. Are there any commonalities? Lastly, think about influential people or events in your life stretching back to childhood. What or who has made you who you are and why?<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve done all this reflection (and written it down!), look for points of intersection and interrelation. Sometimes another set of eyes from a trusted friend or family member can be helpful here. More times than not, there is a common passion, motivation, value, or trait that connects what you\u2019ve done in the past and what you hope to do in the future. This common thread can serve as your overarching theme and answer to \u2018what matters most to you\u2019.<\/p>\n The essay itself should prove that this \u2018thing\u2019 is truly what matters most to you by laying out 2-3 stories and describing how they connect back to it. While the stories are typically told in chronological order, the essay should not read as your memoir. Be thoughtful and strategic, choosing only your most powerful examples.<\/p>\n Many times, successful essays begin with what we refer to as a \u2018superhero origin story\u2019. By this we mean the time in your life or experience that first brought your \u2018thing\u2019 (i.e., what matters most to you) into play for you. It is the defining moment that triggered a shift in your thinking or approach in a way that has stuck with you from then on out, influencing who you\u2019ve become and who you hope to be in the future.<\/p>\n The balance of the essay should focus on one or two other situations from your life since the \u2018superhero origin\u2019 where the thing that matters most to you influenced your actions or choices. One of these (or a third topical area if you have space) can be devoted to your vision of the future. You have space to further spell out your plans in Essay B, but you should lay out, in broad strokes, how your \u2018thing\u2019 influences where you want to take your life in Essay A.<\/p>\n Once you have the backbone of your essay in place, our advice is to go back and add stylistic nuances that demonstrate you possess the characteristics the GSB seeks. Describe interpersonal dynamics within each story and how you successfully navigated them. Layer in emotion and insights about yourself that demonstrate self-awareness. Importantly, write so that the adcom feels your authentic passion for the topic you have chosen to discuss.<\/p>\n If this sounds difficult, that\u2019s because it is. Writing a strong Stanford essay takes upfront investment in introspection and time to iterate (and then iterate again). It\u2019s not uncommon for us to work through 10-20 drafts of this essay with clients because, even with professional help, that\u2019s how long it takes to make it perfect.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve outlined generally where you want to take your life in Essay A, Essay B is your opportunity to get tactical. Share your specific post-MBA goals and describe why an MBA and the GSB\u2019s program in particular are necessary to help you achieve them.<\/p>\n The keys here are specificity and personalization. If someone could blindly read your essay and think it applies to another MBA program, you are not being specific enough. If they could read it and think the \u2018why Stanford\u2019 you describe could help someone achieve different goals than those you are targeting, you are not personalizing your reasons sufficiently.<\/p>\n Writing a successful Essay B requires more than just perusing the GSB\u2019s website for classes and its own description of why the program is unique. Talk to alums and current students, attend webinars, stroll campus if you can, and, critically, reflect on the specific skillsets (hard or soft) you need to build to achieve your most aspirational goals.<\/p>\n Overwhelmed? We get it \u2013 the Stanford GSB application is perhaps the most challenging MBA application out there. If you need assistance, feel free to reach out to request a free consultation<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The post Stanford MBA Essay Tips<\/a> appeared first on Vantage Point MBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Earlier this week, Stanford announced its application deadlines for the \u201923-\u201924 admissions cycle and confirmed that its main essay questions will remain unchanged next year. Round 1 applications will be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1955,775,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-vantage-point-mba","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57707","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\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Stanford MBA Essay Tips – Turning Your Theme into a Strong Essay A<\/h4>\n
Stanford MBA Essay Tips – Essay B is Straightforward but Not \u2018Easy\u2019<\/h4>\n