Favorite essay this application season....

Question

Now that the majority of us have sent in our applications, I thought it might be interesting to see what all the gmat clubbers thought of the essays this year. 
Clearly there were several essays that stood out and would've been interesting to prepare for/write. So I thought I'll put in a poll on that.

Please note that I've added only a few questions that I thought were interesting, there will be others for sure. And yeah, I've tried leaving the standard questions out...

Moderators please add options as appropriate

bsd_lover · Answer

Chicago powerpoint !!! I think that and my NYU creative essays were my strongest and I had the most fun writing/creating them.

djhouse81 · Answer

I like the good ol' fashioned "What are your short-term and long-term goals and why, and how will an MBA from School X help you achieve your goals?"

dosa_don · Answer

How could anyone chose the 21st century MBA question on the CBS app as their favorite? I wonder who voted for that in this poll? Must be DJhouse

(heard he loves SM)

kwam · Answer

Chicago 2nd was the one I really enjoyed writing. BTW I'll post it for everybody who's interested on the Essay Vault...

nervousgmat · Answer

I loved Yale's "choose your own essay question and answer it." Why I liked it? Because I was able to reuse my other b-school's essay in a cut and paste manner :-D

I wish all of the b-school essays were that easy!

djhouse81 · Answer

Dosa, the difficult choice between Ross and Fuqua must be making you delusional! :shock:

max125 · Answer

My vote for the goals essay too... I chose it because, I had to *think* really hard. Tying up all the stories from the past, with plausible explanations for everything you did, was really amazing.

hotdog · Answer

if i were an adcom member, i would be unbelievably bored reading the same essay 4,000 times (i want to be ceo and take over the world....and a hbs mba is the first step!). and my personal opinion is that since there is no common application to apply to all schools, many adcoms have blown the opportunity to really get to know their applicants. that's why i think stern's third essay, describe yourself to your classmates (feel free to be creative), was one of the best opportunities for applicants to really show off and add some color to their app.

imagine how many different/imaginative responses they must get....that would make a job as an admissions officer a lot more interesting! :shock:

dosa_don · Answer

Dj- i think me getting delusional has to do more with the lack of work or motivation to work. I am stuck to GMAT club and browsing. Ross Duke choice is not helping either

kk.iyer · Answer

Has anyone tried editing a poll after people have voted?
I was thinking of adding some of the standard essays too, now that we've seen folks choosing the goals essay over the others..Just don't want that to mess up the counts.

BTW even I thought the Chicago PPT was the best..fun to work on.

mNeo · Answer

Chicago PPT by a mile

Audio · Answer

Same story here. The presentation (and the Stern creative essay, which was a recycle of the Chicago presentation) were by far my best works, which geniunely reflected me as a person. I managed to transmit a very clear message with very little words - power of the image I guess.

I also enjoyed writing my optional essays, where I could talk about my personal experiences.

Most boring and difficult one was of course the why MBA essay (but I guess that's for the majority).

ryguy904 · Answer

No kidding! I'm not sure how it was even included in the poll

- Perhaps the same way Sanjaya made it into the top 10 in American Idol.

skaballet · Answer

Although it was the hardest and took forever to come up with something I really liked Stanford's What Matters Most to You and Why.....

kk.iyer · Answer

Haha..the only reason I added it was because it was "out there" and definitely raised a few eye-brows. Now it would surely become a Sanjaya if you have people voting for it enough times :lol:

riverripper · Answer

I voted other, my choice is Kelloggs what makes you unique essay (some other schools have this). This is the ultimate in sell yourself essay, the why I am different and will add a different perspective to the school. Chicago's PPT was one of the cooler ones to do since it was a good change of pace but it added little benefit to your application so I wouldnt consider it my favorite. I picked the one that I had the most fun writing and felt was the biggest benefit to my overall application and the success I had.

toDoorNot · Answer

I really liked Ross's If you were not pursuing the career goals you selected.. essay. Chance to showcase what i was passionate about in an unconventional way

kryzak · Answer

I enjoyed the "If you can invite someone to dinner (past, present), who would it be" from Haas.

The "What matters to you most, and why" from Stanford was the most painful, but in the end, it was the most self-revealing.

Those two, looking back, would be my favorite essays.

helg · Answer

Yeah! I voted Other too, because of this Ross's essay. Really enjoyed writing it.

Favorite essay this application season....

Favorite Essay

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards