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June 15, 2024

Stanford GSB MBA Essays and Application for the Class of 2027

 In this post, I analyze the Stanford GSB MBA (also MBA and MSX) essays and additional information/resume/employment history/activities for Class of 2027 . My analysis of Stanford GSB interviews can be found here. For an overall quick analysis on M7 schools essays see here for an earlier post.

 

You can find results and/or testimonials from my clients admitted to the Stanford Classes of 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 here. My clients admitted to Stanford GSB have come from China, Europe, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States and have had extremely diverse professional and educational backgrounds. The advice I provide below is based on that experience

 

Applicants can apply to both the MBA and MSX at the the same time. For candidates that fit the MSX work requirements of 8 years minimum.  Regarding MSX, if you are interested in attending that program, I highly recommend getting in direct contact with the admissions office for that program. They are likely to provide you with much more personalized feedback on whether you are good applicant for the program.

 

 

The deadlines for Stanford GSB will depend on whether you are applying to the MBA, MSx, or both MBA and MSx programs. Taken from the application form:

"The following options are available for applying to the MBA and/or MSx Programs this year:

Applying forApplication rounds and deadlines
MBA ProgramRound 1: 10 September 2024, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Round 2: 08 January 2025, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Round 3: 08 April 2025, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time
MSx ProgramRound 1: 15 October 2024, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Round 2: 08 January 2025, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Round 3: 13 February 2025, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time

If you wish to apply to both the MBA and MSx Programs concurrently, you must apply during Round 1: 10 September 2024 (MBA and MSx) or Round 2: 08 January 2025 (MBA and MSx). If you are applying to one program, you may apply in any of the three rounds." 

 

I don't usually provide deadline info in such detail, but for GSB, this can be a bit complicated, so I did.

 

Which round to apply for?

I would never recommend applying for Round 3 at either program if it can be avoided. While some lucky few do gain admission in Round 3 for both programs, given class size and popularity/ranking of GSB, it is not something that will work well for those who are not truly exceptional.  I work primarily with Indians and Japanese and see admission often equally in both rounds. That said, if someone is ready to go in R1, I would encourage it.

 

 

UNDERSTANDING STANFORD GSB'S ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
Before discussing the  Stanford GSB MBA essay set for admission to the Class of 2027,  I will discuss the centrality of demonstrating Stanford GSB's three central admissions criteria- Intellectual Vitality,  Demonstrated Leadership Potential, and Personal Qualities and Contributions.

 

 

INTELLECTUAL VITALITY
The simple reality is that Stanford is for really smart people and specifically for people who want to think and explore: This is a school fueled and surrounded by innovation and collaboration. If you have ideas, there is no better place than Stanford GSB to explore them.

 

My clients who get interviews and most certainly those who are admitted are, without exception, objectively smart people. One primary way, but not the only way, to measure these criteria is by looking at the key numbers.  For the Class of 2025, the GSB site provides the following:

GMAT Average: 738.

GRE Average: 164 (Verbal) and 164 (Quantitative)

GPA Average: 3.77

TOEFL: 113

These numbers reflect the fact that Stanford is the most difficult MBA program to get admitted to. When I am talking with a client or potential client, if I have somebody with a really strong academic background and I see a real sense of purpose and focus to their academic and professional career, I might advise them to apply to Stanford. And in the last few years, I have literally convinced three of my clients to apply to Stanford because basically I said, "Hey, you’re perfect, you’re what they are looking for."  And that’s a sense.  It’s not objective.  And so, it’s just based on my experience. I am not always right about this, but I am right about it enough of the time to think I know when I have an applicant who is right for Stanford.  There are also times, where I have the opposite conversation. If your academic performance at university (both in and out of the classroom) was not outstanding, Stanford will be extremely challenging to enter. I have had clients get in with GMAT and GRE scores that were significantly below average and GPAs that were not excellent but they were truly outstanding candidates. For example,  I had a client admitted whose academic performance was solid but not excellent but whose leadership and impact at university was exceptional. This client's personal story and professional impact were also exceptional. The client also had the advantage of coming from a country and a region that has few MBA applicants.

 

 

DEMONSTRATED LEADERSHIP: THE CENTRAL ROLE OF LEADERSHIP AT STANFORD
Stanford should, like HBS, be associated with a leadership-focused education, which is reflected in its mission statement:

Our mission is to create ideas that deepen and advance our understanding of management and with those ideas to develop innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change the world.Our mission is to create ideas that deepen and advance our understanding of management and with those ideas to develop innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change the world.

The three new impact essays that were added for 2019-2020 (Class of 2022) are certainly the ideal place to highlight your  leadership potential.  But beyond that, what you write in the two essays, resume, and application form should also take your  leadership potential into account.  It is also important to advise your recommenders on the importance of discussing your leadership potential.

 

PERSONAL QUALITIES AND CONTRIBUTIONS
I think reading what Stanford says about  Personal Qualities and Contributions is the best place to start when thinking about this third criteria.  In essence, Stanford wants to know why should be a part of the 6.2% of the applicant pool that they will be admitting.  What makes you stand out?  How will you contribute?  What is it about your experience and attitude that will not only make you a good fit for Stanford but will give you the potential to make an impact to the Stanford community?  This does not just come out in one particular place, but is something that will come out of your entire application as well as in an interview.

 

STANFORD IS LOOKING FOR HONESTY
In my analysis of Essay A, I will discuss the critical importance of providing honest answers to Stanford's questions. I think that what has always made a winning set of essays for Stanford is the ability to commit to making an honest and insightful presentation of yourself. Based on my experience I can say the following are not effective:

1. Over-marketing: While I believe in the value of the marketing metaphor to some degree, I also believe you have to be able to understand that a crude, over-determined approach to doing so will not work here (For more about this, click here).   If you are not real, assume a good reader will figure out that you are not.  As mentioned above, I think Dean Moss is someone ideal for determining whether you are telling the truth or slinging bullshit.

2. Not writing your own essays. If your essays are not written in your own voice and don't reflect your English ability, don't expect to make it past Stanford's team. My own approach to helping my clients does not involve me writing their essays but instead I act as a coach, a close reader, and someone who can benchmark their work against those who have been admitted. I make the assumption that overly cooked essays that look like they were written by a professional journalist when you are not one or by a native English speaker when you are not one or similar inconsistencies are unlikely to succeed.

 

IS STANFORD RIGHT FOR YOU?

Stanford really does provide great advice about both the Stanford GSB essays and about how to handle your applications. Just start exploring their website!  Also, see my discussion of Stanford GSB in my analysis of Essay 2. Don't make assumptions about what Stanford GSB is or based on what someone told you it is. Instead, make that determination yourself after sufficient research. If you are thinking about Stanford GSB and have not yet attended one of their Admissions Events, I suggest doing so if you can. Visiting when school is in session is ideal though likely to be impossible for at least Academic Year 2020-2021 because of Coronavirus. Most importantly try to talk to current students or recent alumni. In the present environment all schools are making great attempts to have a variety of online ways of learning about the school and connecting with students.

 

 

Essay Questions A&B

"Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?

For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives?

Essay B: Why Stanford?

Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address your interest in both programs.

Length

Both essays combined may not exceed 1,000 words. We recommend up to 650 words for Essay A and up to 350 words for Essay B. We often find effective essays that are written in fewer words.

 

Formatting

  • Double-spaced
  • Number all pages
  • Upload one document that includes both essays

Be sure to save a copy of your essays, and preview the uploaded document to ensure that the formatting is preserved."

 

SHOULD I WRITE ESSAY A OR B FIRST?
Applicants often ask me this question. I think it is important that knowing why you want an MBA, Essay B, be clearly established first. Therefore, at least at the conceptual level, you should have a clear answer to Essay B initially. You might do the writing in either order, but as I will discuss below, what matters to you most, Essay A,  must be consistent with and complimentary to your rationale for pursuing an MBA. Stanford does not specifically ask you to write about your post-MBA goals in Essay B, but I would argue that it is impossible to explain why you need an MBA without explaining what you need an MBA for.  And a major part of what you need an MBA for is what you will do after you finish at Stanford.  Now it is possible that what matters most to you might actually relate directly to your goals, so the amount of detail about your goals need not be extensive in Essay B, but explaining why need you an MBA is at the core of this essay set.

 

 

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?

This is the classic Stanford GSB essay question. If you want to enter into the MBA Class of 2027, you will need to find your answer to it.

WHERE DO SUCCESSFUL ANSWERS TO ESSAY A COME FROM?
In my experience, answers to this question that result in acceptance come from the HEART and the HEAD. The two combined will allow you to tell your story about what matters most. I suggest beginning with no fixed assumptions about what Stanford wants here. One of the easiest ways to write a bad version of Essay 1 is to have a theme that does not directly relate to your actual experience: Round pegs do not fit into square holes.

 
 
Heart: The admits I worked with found that what matters most to them by looking inside of themselves and finding something essential about who they are. No one is reducible to a core single concept, a single motivation, or any other sort of singularity, but certain things do make each of us tick. Beyond the most basic things of survival, what motivates you? What do you live for? What do you care about? How do you relate to other people? Are you driven by a particular idea or issue? Where do you find meaning?
 
 
Head: Once you think you have identified that essential thing that matters most to you, begin analyzing it. What is its source? WHY does it remain important to you? How? How does it relate to the career aspirations you discuss in Essay B? The heart will tell what it is, but the head must explain it. From my perspective, great answers to this question combine a very strong analytical foundation-A FULL ANSWER TO WHY AND HOW IS MANDATORY- and specific examples. Avoid the common mistake that Derrick Bolton mentions above of ignoring the "Why?" and the "How?" by focusing too much on the "What?"If you are having difficulty answering Essay A to your own satisfaction, I have few suggestions:
 
 
If you are feeling totally blocked and making no progress on this essay, write some other schools essays first. In the process of doing so, you may discover the answer. This has worked for a number of my clients while others prefer focusing on Stanford first.
 
 

Stanford admissions states that there is no one right answer. Some applicants become paralyzed because they want THE RIGHT MESSAGE. You need to fully account for who you are and what you have done, but should not try to overly sell yourself to Stanford because that is simply at odds with the way in which the school selects candidates. Therefore don't focus on finding THE RIGHT MESSAGE, instead, be honest and give an answer that is real. If you are having some more fundamental difficulties with this question, one book I suggest taking a look at is Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. This classic is worth a look for anyone who is thinking about what their life is about. Frankl makes us think about meaning from the most extreme of perspectives, inside a concentration camp, and in the process helps us to understand that meaning itself is deeply tied to our own survival. If you need to engage in some self-reflection, Frankl’s book is one place to start. I might also suggest reading Plato or doing some meditation, but in my experience those take more time and Frankl's book has the advantage of being short, inexpensive, available at many libraries, and has been translated from the original German into at least twenty-two languages.

 

The answer may be real, but is it a good one? If you are not sure, look critically at Stanford GSB's mission statement discussed above in this post.  Does what matters most to you fit within this mission to develop innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change the world? Think about this statement in the widest possible way. Given the small class size and the highly collaborative nature of the program, admissions will only be doing its job right if they select students who fit into Stanford GSB's mission. Stanford is looking for leaders, but leaders come in many forms and the values and ideals that inform them vary greatly. In my experience, Stanford highly values "Thought Leaders" as well as those who demonstrate more standard forms of leadership. If what matters most to you is something that admissions can clearly connect to informing your ideals as a leader and your professional goals then you are on the way to forming an effective answer to what is Stanford's most unique essay question.

 

Some Common Types of What Matters Essays

While I am not known for giving examples or sample answers, I would like to discuss three common types of answers.

 

 

Abstract and metaphorical: Abstract and metaphorical answers can produce very creative responses. An example (Note all examples I will use here are not from my clients) would be "What matters most to me are the doors in my life."  Using the whole concept of entering and exiting, this essay concept might work very well, but could easily generate a series of disconnected stories that don't leave the reader with a really clear answer.  I have had clients use such answers effectively, but more often than not, the more abstract the answer, the harder it is to make into something really convincing.  Remember that writing MBA essays is not primarily a literary exercise, so be careful with this approach.

 

Core value: A core value response might involve a very simple answer to the question, such as "What matters to me most is love."  Applicants frequently stress out about giving simple answers to the question because they worry that the answer will be too common.  I think it is a mistake to worry that your core conceptual answer is too common because you should assume that Stanford admissions has seen almost every possible answer to this question already.  What is ultimately important is not the what, but the why and how you explain that why in the essay.  Simple can work exceptionally well if it is a way to connect key aspects of yourself effectively.  I have had a number of clients who were admitted with one to three-word answers to the question.

 

The Mission: A mission version of the answer works exceptionally well if your stated mission is really backed-up by your resume and other aspects of your application. An example would be "What matters most to me is protecting the Earth's environment for future generations."  I have seen many answers like this that were truly excellent and resulted in admission for candidates who could really prove they had the mission in the past and would be continuing  it in the future.  On the other hand, I have seen so many bad answers that lacked believability because the applicant's biographical details did not align with the answer, and/or lacked a clearly stated mission with a scope that was clarified in Essay B.

 

While I have seen all three types result in admission, I have seen more Core Value and The Mission type answers work successfully.

 

Make a choice! All successful versions of this essay that I have read involve making a choice. That is to say, you must actually clearly indicate something that matters most. As someone who is frequently contacted by those who have failed to obtain admission to Stanford and want to know why, I often find that they don't make this choice. Their "what matters most" lacks clarity and unity. Make a clear choice and really explore it. This will best reveal your self-awareness and your passion.

 

Leverage the optional impact essays:  The impact essays give you a place to tell detailed stories of leadership, teamwork, and accomplishment, so don't focus on such stories in Essay 1. Instead of focus on explaining yourself and what you most value.  Let the impact essays show how you live out what matters most to you in greater detail.

 

Finally, the map is not the territory: You are more than whatever you write in an essay.  This is essay is just a slice of who you are. It is not everything, so don't expect you will  have that one theme that explains everything you care about. You have to make a choice of topics here, but this is ultimately not an existential choice, it is a marketing choice. You are deciding what core message(s) about yourself will ultimately best give you a chance of admission to Stanford.  The question itself is ultimately absurd for most people as what matters to them is one more than one thing. We have competing commitments: Often more than one thing matters most to us so we are constantly reprioritizing. We are complex and contradictory. Our beliefs and actions are not always in alignment.  We worry about our choices. We have inner struggles. All of this is true and yet ultimately in terms of this essay you have to provide a clear answer to the question. Getting at what matters most is often determined by struggling with competing commitments and ultimately stating what is rhetorically most defendable and strategically most appealing.

 

 

Essay B: Why Stanford?
Your objective in the essay is to demonstrate why you would greatly benefit from a Stanford MBA education.  Stanford is proud of what they are and what they can offer. They can reject anyone and they do reject a higher percentage of applicants than other schools. One thing I think that separates great versions of Essay B (the ones that get applicants an interview) and mediocre versions (the ones that usually don't get applicants an interview) is the extent to which the applicant is able to show that Stanford is not a mere afterthought or an option, but actually a necessity to accomplish one's aspirations. Fully account for that in your essay. Learn as much as you can about Stanford and think deeply about who it will impact you.
 
If you are applying to both MBA and MSx, make sure that whatever you say about Stanford applies to both programs. Explain why you would be happy to attend both programs if offered admission. Don't express a preference for one or the the other in the essay. Additionally, you have a space in the application form (Professional Experience page) to discuss why MSx is right for you: Because the Stanford MSx program is for mid-career managers, we want you to have clear career goals in mind when you begin. Briefly tell us about your specific career goals and how you believe the Stanford MSx Program, combined with your experience, education or background, will help you achieve them. Be as specific as you can. You are welcome to elaborate on these goals further in Essay B if desired. (Note that only the MSx Admissions Committee will review this response) 500 characters
While it would be possible to discuss more about MSx in Essay B, I really would not do that given the tight word count. Instead I would mention why GSB is right for you as that applies to both programs.  For this short answer, you have approximately 80-100 words to explain why MSx is right for your career goals.
 
Stanford views itself as a change agent. Show in you essay how it will change you. In my experience,  a good answer to Essay B  will do the following;
 
 
1. Shows how the applicant intends to be an agent of change in whatever career he or she pursues after his or her MBA. Stanford is looking for innovative change agents, so make sure that you demonstrate that in this essay. Your answer should be consistent with Stanford's mission to "Change lives, Change organizations, Change the world."  This really does matter.  Stanford takes 400 people a year  and is typically admitting approximately 6% of those that apply. It is a precious opportunity to go there and hence giving a spot to someone whose goals are simply mundane and not focused on impacting the wider world is not what Stanford admissions is interested in doing.  Whatever your objectives, whether it is to be a partner at a consulting firm, a leading investment banker, a social entrepreneur, a global marketer, an executive in the energy industry, a politician, etc., you need to provide a sense that you have the capability to have wide impact in your chosen field.
 
 

2. Shows connectivity with Essay A.  Whether the connection is extremely direct or relatively abstract, the reader should feel a sense of synergy between these essays. For those who have a mission (see above) type answers in Essay A, Essay B is an opportunity to explain how an MBA will help you carry out that mission. For  those with other types of Essay A answers, the connectivity will be more indirect, but should still be intuitively obvious to the reader.

 
3.  Consistent with the applicant's biography.  That is to say, applicants have facts in their past experience that must make their goals believable.  I work with reapplicants to Stanford and for those who are dinged without an interview, I frequently find their goal essay lack this consistency. For instance, someone who says they want to go into social entrepreneurship, but has no history of getting involved with non-profit organizations, lacks significant recent volunteer experience,  and/or has no significant entrepreneurial experience, simply lacks credibility
 
 
 
4.  Does not just make a series of dumb lists of classes or tell Stanford about itself, but explains what the applicant wants from Stanford.  Go review Stanford's curriculum,  course catalog, and faculty and research. The resources available at Stanford GSB and Stanford University as a whole are vast, so figure out specifically what you want from the school as you will need to discuss that. While you should be explaining why you need an MBA, you need to make sure that your reasons align well with Stanford. You need not mention the names of particular courses as long as it would be clear to your reader that your learning needs align well with Stanford's curriculum. For example, it is really a waste of word count to mention the names of particular finance courses if the main point you are simply trying to make is that you want to enhance your finance skills. Every admissions officer at Stanford is well aware of the programs major offerings.  If you have a particular interest in a more specialized course or studying with a particular professor, it might be worth mentioning it as long as it is an explanation of why you want to study the subject and not based on circular reasoning;
 
 
 
An example of circular (tautological) reasoning:  "I want to take Accelerated Corporate Finance: Applications, Techniques, and Models because I am interested in learning advanced corporate financial techniques."
This kind of circular reasoning is so common. Usually, it takes place within a paragraph consisting of many such sentences. They actually convey nothing about the applicant.  They are just abstract needs and will have limited impact on your reader.  The admissions reader wants to learn about you, not about their own program.
 
 
 
An example of an explanation for why:  "While I have been exposed to finance through my work at MegaBank of Joy, I presently lack the kind of comprehensive understanding of corporate finance that I will need to succeed as an investment banker."  A complete explanation would include additional details about the kind of issues that the applicant is interested in learning about and/or specific ways the applicant intended to apply what he or she would learn at Stanford.  By focusing on very specific learning needs and explaining those needs in relationship to one's goals and/or past experience, the admissions reader will be learning about you.
 
 

THIS IS A FUTURE DIRECTED QUESTION
Unlike some other "Why MBA" questions, Stanford is not asking about the past.  You have Essay A, your resume, and the application form to discuss the past. This essay is about who you want to become. While Stanford does not require you to elaborate on your short and long term goals in this essay, without some consideration to your post-MBA future, it will not be very easy to write an effective answer to this question.  You need not have an elaborate plan here.  You hardly have the space for it.   Instead of focusing on your goals,  focus on your personal mission:

-How will you make a difference and how can Stanford  help you do that?

-What impact do you want to make on the world that an MBA will help facilitate?

-What do you need to learn at Stanford in order to transform yourself for your future?

You need to be ambitious. Simply stating what your goals are and why Stanford is the best place for you to accomplish them is not exactly what you need here. Instead, you need to articulate a rationale related to why you want an MBA  that is connected to Stanford's mission to train global leaders. For more about being ambitious and visionary, see here. While the Stanford essay may not require goals, you will need them if you are interviewed by an alumnus.  Most Stanford interviews involve a discussion of goals.  So having a well thought out set of goals, even if they are not written about extensively in Essay B is something that you should have in place. While many applicants will be able to successfully apply with relatively standard goals ("I want to be a consultant because..."), communicating aspirations requires going beyond the typical.

 

When formulating goals, the necessary prerequisite for formulating aspirations, I suggest going through a formal process of goals analysis.If you are still trying to figure out what you want to do with your life, you can use the following grid.

The following image may not work for all browsers. If so, see here. Click to enlarge it.

How to use this matrix:

Step 1. Begin by analyzing your "Present Career." What  roles and responsibilities have you had in clubs, part-time jobs, internships, volunteer activities, etc.? What was/is your functional role(s)? What was/are your responsibilities?
Next, analyze your present strengths and weaknesses for succeeding in your present career. In particular, some of your greatest strengths may have been demonstrated outside of work, so make sure you are accounting for them.
Strengths: What are you good at? Where do you add value? What are you praised for? What are you proud of?
Weakness:What are you bad at? What are you criticized for? What do you try to avoid due to your own limitations? What do you fear?
Next, analyze your situation in right now. What opportunities exist for your growth and success? What threats could limit your career growth?
 
 
Step 2. Now, do the same thing in Step 1 for your "Post-MBA" future after you have earned your graduate degree. If you cannot complete this step you need to do more research and need to think more about it. I frequently help clients with this sort of thing through a process of brainstorming.
 
 
Step 3. If you could complete step 2, then you should see the "Gap" between your present and your future. What skills, knowledge, and other resources do you need to close the gap between your present and future responsibilities, strengths, and opportunities?
 
 
Step 4. After completing Step 3, you now need to determine how an MBA will add value to you. It is possible that an increased salary as a result of job change will be sufficient "ROI" for the degree to justify itself, but you should show how a degree will allow you to reach your career goals. How will the degree enhance your skills and opportunities and help you overcome your weaknesses and external threats? If you can complete Step 4, then you should be ready to explain what your goals are, why you want a degree, and the  relationship between your past and future career, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.
 
 
The above table will also help you answer such common interview questions as: Where do you want to work after you finish your degree? Why do you want an MBA? What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are your goals?
 

 

 

The Essay B writing process

After going through a process of reflection and analysis, prepare versions of Essay B that includes everything you want to say. Next, begin the process of revision. Here are a few key things to consider when revising:
1. Think about the most important thing you need admissions to know about what you want to do after your MBA and why Stanford MBA (or MBA/MSX)  is the best place for you to do that. Begin your essay with that. Chances are good that on your initial draft the most important thing is somewhere in the middle or end of your essay.
2. Prioritize the rest of your content: What do they really need to know? Chances are you have lots of details that can be cut.
3. Make a formal argument: Your essay should be neither a set of disembodied points or a summary, instead, it should be a formal statement. Effective forms of this statement vary. The important part is that the reader should be able to understand it clearly and be convinced by it.

Once you have put together Essay B, consider how the rest of your application supports what you say in it. Without over-marketing yourself or even necessarily writing it directly in the essays, make that your other essays and other aspects of your application show how your potential will contribute to your future aspirations.

 

 

SURE IT IS  AN "OPTIONAL ESSAY" BUT ONLY AN IDIOT WOULD NOT ANSWER IT!

SHORT ANSWER QUESTION

 

Think about times you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others?

All the clients that I worked with who were admitted and/or interviewed by Stanford for the Classes of 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 wrote the impact essays. You should too!

While there is only one question, you can provide up to three answers to it.  My clients have always written three answers, but one does not have to.

Calling this an optional essay is just a confusing message to send to applicants because (1) it is not like a typical optional essay related to critical information or problems that have not been accounted for, which is the common topic for optional essays (Stanford has it, it is called Additional Information and is discussed below) and (2) anyone can and should answer this question! If you cannot identify 1-3 specific ways you have had impact in ANY SETTING (professional, extracurricular, academic, or other setting = ANY)  that you have not covered elsewhere in detail in application (including the essay in the application, see below), there is a problem.  I don't recommend writing about something you are covering in detail elsewhere in the required essays or application form but, of course, some overlap is likely (especially with respect to the application form content). Given that Stanford is looking for people who will have high impact throughout their careers, the essay is a great way to showcase your potential to be a high impact leader in the future.  it is also an opportunity to show how you will add value at GSB.  It is also a great chance to elaborate on a story that you could not include or fully discuss in your required essays.

 

Effective answers to this question will clearly state the activity engaged in, identify the impact, and explain why it was significant (made a difference) to your yourself or others.  This chart will help you brainstorm impact essays:

Essay OutlineWhat was your role?What does it mean?Why will this essay sell them on you?
Situation:
When?
Where?
Who?
What?
How?
Effective answers to when, where, who, what, and how should all relate directly to your role in the situation. You are the hero or heroine of your story.Your reader should have a clear understanding of the situation. They are not reading a mystery story, a poem, or some other form of writing where withholding information will be valued.The situation needs to be one that the reader will believe, consider to be important, and hopefully be impressed by.
Action Steps:
What actions did you take?Action Step 1:
Action Step 2:
Action Step 3:
Stories break down into steps. For each step, make sure you are clear about what you did.Each action step should be meaningful and demonstrate your potential. This is the core of the story and it is important the rationale for your actions be stated as clearly as possible. Effective essays involve both description and interpretation.If you are actions are clear and their value is clear in terms of your leadership, analytical, engaged community citizenship, or unique background, you will be on a firm basis for selling your story to admissions.
ResultResults should be stated as clearly as possible. Your relationship to the results should be clear.Explain the significance of results clearly.Make your results meaningful so that they will be impressive.

I would suggest writing these  short essays after determining the content for your required A & B essays as well as completing the application form, so you can see what has not been fully accounted for in your background that you really want Stanford to know.  Aligning the content of impact essays to connect to theme of Essay A  and/or to show your potential to accomplish your goals as mentioned in Essay B is something that I consider critical for making a great essay set.

 

 

Optional Question 2

(Found on the Personal Information Page of the Application)

We know that each person is more than a list of facts or pre-defined categories. With this space, we provide you with an optional opportunity to elaborate on how your background or life experiences have helped shape your recent actions or choices.

 Give them a new perspective on you!

 

This is a behavioral question  (See my MIT interview post for a full discussion of behavioral questions).  I like this kind of question because it asks an applicant to apply something from their background to something they have done recently.   Please don't tell a story that overlaps with the content presented elsewhere in your application and especially not with your essay content.  Tell us about something else in your background and how it has impacted what you have done in some recent situation. That thing in your background could be a value, a lesson you learned, an activity or interest. The possibilities are endless. Whatever that background thing is, show how it impacted your participation in terms of the actions you took and/or the values you upheld.  Make sure you put time into this and don't write it as an afterthought. It would relate to something professional, personal, or extracurricular.  Recent would seem to me to mean in the last 12 months or so. so except for deferred admissions applicants and  those who have just recently made academic actions or choices (and not why MBA please! Covered in Essay B), academic topics are less likely.

 

THINK ABOUT THE REST OF THE APPLICATION
There is nothing more depressing to me than to look at an MBA application that is hastily put together. Worse still if it is a school that is hard to get into. Worse yet if it is Stanford, where there is a very rigorous approach to application review. The application form, transcript, and resume all play a significant role in the evaluation of your suitability for admission.  Given  that Stanford GSB is evaluating your intellectual vitality, demonstrated leadership potential, personal qualities, and qualifications, you can be certain that beyond your essays, the rest of the application will be highly scrutinized to determine how you benchmark against these criteria. Some people look at application forms as mere forms. I look at them as opportunities  to provide admissions with as complete and impressive presentation as one can. The reason admissions made the application was because they need the information to make a decision about you, so don't provide something that is done at the last minute. Stanford expects that you will take the application seriously. The worst thing you can do is treat this section as a last minute thought.

In the employment section, clients frequently ask me about the question, "What is your most significant professional achievement?" which is required for each position held.  I suggest you focus on the situation at work where you had the greatest impact. Where did you add value above and beyond what would normally be expected of you?  Sure you may have participated in some engagement that was big but if your role was routine, that is not what you want to mention. Focus on something that required you to take initiative and/or where your impact was beyond the expectations of your organization.

 

ONE PAGE RESUME PLEASE

Stanford really does prefer a one-page resume!

"Please attach your one-page resume. Unless you have a very compelling reason, do not submit a resume that is longer than one page."

For a one-page resume template, see here.   This is the resume template that many of my clients admitted to Stanford and other top programs have used.

 

Along with the essays, the Resume and Employment History are the most critical documents that you control. Both should present you as effectively and honestly as possible. These two values are not in conflict: Be honest, be thorough, and do not be humble. You are being judged by your professional experience and this is where they get your complete record of it. Since Stanford generally prefers a one-page resume, my suggestion is to provide that if at all feasible. You can always provide any supplemental information in the Additional Information upload section of the application.

 

THE BRIEF GOALS STATEMENT IN THE APPLICATION FORM

Please write a sentence or two about what you aspire to do after graduating from Stanford GSB. (Limit 255 characters.) 

The answer here should be consistent with whatever you are writing in Essay B.  It may simply overlap with content in Essay B or provide a bit of detail that you did not have the word count for. Obviously you cannot get much in 255 characters, so don't worry if this is just a restatement of what is in Essay B.  As far as the answer goes, be as clear and specific as possible.

 

 

Transcripts
At a Stanford presentation in Tokyo, the admissions officer emphasized that the admissions committee closely reads transcripts. While you don't control the content at this point, you have the possibility of impacting how the transcript is interpreted. Scrutinize your own transcript. If your GPA is high, this is easy. You can relax. If on the other hand, your transcript reveals an unimpressive GPA, some very low grades, gaps in study, or anything else that concerns you, you had better figure out how to address in the Additional Information section.

 

Additional Information: Use it or don't use it, but don't abuse it.

We are deliberate in the questions we ask. We believe that we get to know you well through all of the elements of your application. Complete this section only if you have critical information you could not convey elsewhere on your application (e.g., extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance). This section should not be used as an additional essay. 1200 characters
  • Extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance
  • Academic experience (e.g., independent research) not noted elsewhere"

If you read the above, it should be clear enough that this is the place to explain anything negative or potentially negative in your background or to provide additional information that did not fit in the space provided elsewhere. DO NOT USE IT FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. Yes, you may have written a great essay for Tuck, Wharton, Harvard, Chicago, NYU, MIT, INSEAD, Columbia, or London Business School, but don't include it here. I don't think the categories above require interpretation as they are clear.

 

If you really have no explanation for something negative, don't bother writing about it. For example, if your GPA is 2.9 and you have no good explanation for why it is 2.9, don't bother writing something that looks like a lame excuse. This is more likely to hurt than help you. In the same vein, don't waste the committee's time telling them that your GMAT is a much better indicator than your GPA (the opposite is also true). They have heard it before and they will look at both scores and can draw their own conclusions without you stating the obvious. That said, if you have a good explanation for a bad GPA, you should most certainly write about it.

 

MANY APPLICANTS HAVE  SOMETHING THEY WANT TO EXPLAIN. It might be small or it might be large, but if you don't give your interpretation of something that may look odd in your application, why assume that someone reviewing it will interpret in a manner favorable to you?   Your objective is to always provide the admissions reader with an interpretation, especially of something you think is relatively obvious and potentially negative.

SOME APPLICANTS HAVE NO REASON TO USE THIS SECTION.  If you have nothing that requires explanation, don't write something unnecessary here.  There is ZERO obligation to write this answer if there is nothing that you need to explain.

 

Activities
This section is important. Of course, some applicants will not have much here, while others will have a plethora of things to mention. In any case, provide the best answer you can. Use your judgment about what to include. The above instructions make it very clear that Stanford GSB is not looking for quantity. Give them quality and don't mention anything that will show your lack of commitment: If you joined a lot of organizations for a really short time and did nothing, I don't think that it will help you to mention it. Please keep in mind that there is no perfect applicant, just like there is no perfect human being. If you have had to work 100-plus hours a week since graduating from university and your idea of extracurricular activity is sleep, don't assume that not having any great activities will hurt you. Admissions will evaluate your whole application. I have had the opportunity to work with great applicants who were admitted to Stanford GSB, and I can say none of them were perfect, but what they were able to do was present themselves as honestly and effectively as possible. Some had amazing extracurricular activities while others really did not have much worth mentioning.

 

Finally, I plea with you to give yourself enough time to do a first class job on the entire application. I can't guarantee that doing a great job on the application form will get you into the Stanford Class of 2027, but if you make it part of your overall approach to applying, it will not hurt either.  Given the central importance of the resume to the interview process at Stanford, it is critical that you give that document the time and attention that it deserves. Getting into Stanford GSB is simply harder than getting into any other MBA program, but if it is where you want to go and if you think you fit there, commit to putting a significant amount of time into making a great application. Best of luck!

June 13, 2024

Wharton MBA Essay Questions for the Class of 2027

 In this post, I analyze the essay questions for the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for Fall 2025 admission.  For my most recent posts on Wharton interviews, please see here.

 

My clients have been admitted to Wharton every year since 2002. Since I started my own counseling service in 2007, I have had 100 clients admitted to Wharton's MBA program (85 admitted to Wharton, 1 to Wharton Deferred and 14 admitted to Wharton Lauder), which is my biggest total for any school. My clients' results and testimonials can be found here.

 

The thing I like most about Wharton is that they really do admit a very diverse class. The class size certainly helps,  but beyond that, Wharton is a school where applicants are evaluated holistically and one need not be perfect to gain admission.  Such factors as a less than stellar GPA, a less than super GMAT or GRE, being older (30+) or work experience in companies that are not necessarily prestigious are not inherent barriers to admission to Wharton's MBA program.  I have worked with clients who had such issues, but also had amazing strengths which helped them gain admission. This could also happen at HBS or only rarely at Stanford, but it happens more at Wharton.  The school's diversity is also shown through the range of courses offered and the many international programs.  Some people think of Wharton narrowly as a finance school, but to do so is to ignore the huge course catalog, numerous clubs, and diverse recruiting results.

 

There are no changes to the Essays from the prior year. The deadlines are Round 1: Sep 4, 2024, Round 2: Jan 3, 2025, and Round 3: Apr 2, 2025.  

 

ESSAYS FOR THE 2024-2025 APPLICATION CYCLE

"The Admissions Committee wants to get to know you on both a professional and personal level. We encourage you to be introspective, candid and succinct. Most importantly, we suggest you be yourself. For additional essay writing resources, see the essay tips article!

Essay 1: How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (500 words)

Essay 2: Essay 2: Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words)

Required Essay for all Reapplicants: Please use this space to share with the Admissions Committee how you have reflected and grown since your previous application and discuss any relevant updates to your candidacy (e.g., changes in your professional life, additional coursework, and extracurricular/volunteer engagements). (250 words)

Optional Essay: Please use this space to share any additional information about yourself that cannot be found elsewhere in your application and that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee. This space can also be used to address any extenuating circumstances (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, areas of weakness, etc.) that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider.

Please note:

  • First-time MBA applicants and re-applicants are required to complete essays 1 and 2."

 

 
The Required Essays
Wharton’s essay set is transactional in the most basic sense because Essay 1 is about what Wharton can give you and Essay 2 is about what you can give Wharton. This reflects the core pragmatism of the school’s culture and specifically the culture of the admissions office.
 
You need to learn about a lot about Wharton.  It is one of the schools that requires knowing a lot about it through networking with current students and alumni as well as looking at the program in depth.  Wharton wants to be loved. It suffers from an HBS and Stanford inferiority complex.   Comparatively speaking, the amount of engagement you should have with this school is very high compared to the rest of the M7 except CBS because  both their essays require significant understanding of Wharton  For more about this issue, see my post from last year, How much do I really need to know about an MBA program to prepare a strong application for it? It varies!  It provides a comprehensive guide to this issue for Wharton, the rest of the M7, and many other top schools.
 
 
 
 
Essay 1: How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (500 words)

 

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM WHARTON?

An excellent answer to this essay question would identify those specific aspects of Wharton that you will help you achieve your goals. It is a future focused question.  A general characterization of Wharton- data driven, but also a place with a commitment to experiential learning, East Coast focused but with a San Francisco campus that is now become integrated into the MBA program, highly international, highly flexible with strengths in a large number of areas, including healthcare, finance, real estate, and marketing- is  helpful to keep in mind when writing this essay. Wharton has a lot to offer and, while some have characterized it as a CFO school, a finance school, a Wall Street school, all too some extent true, this is not so helpful when you consider that, for example, Sundar Pichai, Google's guy in charge of Chrome, Android, and Google Apps, is a Wharton alumnus. Wharton is a huge program with so many strengths that the point is not to think about some big overall image of the school, but to focus on what you want to get out of it. Which specific resources you want to use and why. Keep in mind that Wharton is much bigger than HBS because of the undergraduate program. The range of courses, research, and opportunities is huge. The point is to provide a specific game plan on how you will use Wharton to achieve your goals.

 
An effective essay here will do the following:
 

1.   Explain what your goals are.

 

2.   Explain how Wharton will help you achieve your goals.   Focus on specific aspects of Wharton that will help you achieve your professional objectives.

 

If you are having difficulty determining what your goals are and/or why you need an MBA in general, please see my analysis of Essays 1 and 3  in my Columbia Business School analysis. In those posts I provide a detailed method for thinking about goals and need for an MBA. CBS gives 750 words (Essay 1 is 500 words and Essay 3 is 250 words) for what you need to cover in Wharton in 500 words.

 

Make the assumption that an MBA from Wharton will be a transformative experience for you.  If you don't make this assumption, you will likely find it particularly hard to explain what you want from the experience and will also probably come across as rather dull.  Your job is to engage the admissions reader so that they understand what you want from Wharton for your future.

 

What are your aspirations? What about your past experience?  You need to give Wharton admissions a very clear image of your professional objectives for attending the MBA program.  You might include a clear post-MBA career goal and a longer term vision/goal. You might express it in terms of your present situation ("past experience") and how you hope to be transformed by your Wharton experience.  A purely abstract dream or visionary statement could easily come across as unrealistic or ungrounded if not handled carefully, so be careful to connect your aspirations to  your past actions and/or clearly defined goals. Career changers (those planning on  changing industry and/or function after MBA) should explain why they want to change their careers and how Wharton will enable that. Career enhancers should explain how an MBA will enhance their careers to continue along the pathway that thy are already on.

 

You should be explaining why you need a Wharton MBA in  particular. You should  learn about the curriculumclusters / cohorts/ learning teamsLearning @ Whartoncommunity involvementclubs, and WGA in order to determine what aspects of Wharton really relate to your professional objectives. You need not mention the names of particular courses as long as it would be clear to your reader that your aspirations align well with Wharton's offerings. For example, it is really a waste of word count to mention the names of particular finance courses if the main point you are simply trying to make is that you want to enhance your finance skills. Every admissions officer at Wharton is well aware of the programs major offerings.  If you have a particular interest in a more specialized course or studying with a particular professor, it might be worth mentioning it as long as it is an explanation of why you want to study the subject and not based on circular reasoning.

 

An example of circular (tautological) reasoning:  "I want to take Advanced Corporate Finance because I am interested in developing advanced corporate finance skills." This kind of bad circular reasoning is so common in early drafts I see from my clients and in the failed essays of reapplicants that I am asked to review. Usually it takes place within a paragraph consisting of many such sentences. These sentences actually convey nothing about the applicant. The admissions reader wants to learn about you, not about their own program. If you don't explain what you need and why, you are not actually answering the question, you are just writing something dull, surface level, and without positive impact.

 

An example of an actual explanation:  "While I have been exposed to finance through my work at MegaBank, I presently lack the kind of comprehensive understanding of corporate finance that I want to master at Wharton to succeed as a future leader of cross-border M&A." By focusing on very specific learning needs and explaining those needs in relationship to one's goals and/or past experience, admissions will be learning about you and really be able to understand what you need from Wharton. Mentioning a course name is not important if the learning need is already something obviously obtainable at Wharton. A more complete explanation would include additional details about the kind of issues that the applicant is interested in learning about and/or specific ways the applicant intended to apply what he or she would learn at Wharton.

 

Finally, remember that if you have something that you really want to discuss about what you contribute to Wharton or wish to mention particular classes, clubs, and events at Wharton that you could not fit into the essay, you can always discuss that in the optional essay.

 

 

Essay 2: Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words)

 

WHAT CAN YOU GIVE TO THE WHARTON COMMUNITY?

 

I have been an MBA admissions consultant since 2001 and the contribution question is one that I could explain to a client in my sleep.  I have done it on this blog many times before. Here is one of my old (2008) favorites, which includes a table that I have also used below.

One of the chief functions of an MBA admissions committee is to select people who will add value to the community.  The director and the rest of the committee have done their job properly if they have selected students who can work well together, learn from each other, and if these students become alum who value the relationships they initially formed at business school. Your contribution(s) need to clearly connected to the community. Maybe it will be through the way you work with others, the knowledge you share, or the activities you organize but make sure the reader can fully understand how this be a contribution at Wharton.  You should know enough about the Wharton community to show specific ways you might contribute.

Within the context of the Wharton application, Essay 2 is really one of the important places to show why you will add value to Wharton.  One way, I like to think about contribution questions is to use a table like the following:

CONTRIBUTIONSIs it a personal, professional or academic experience?What skill, value, or unique experience is being showcased?So what will you contribute  to the Wharton community?Is this special? Why?
Story 1:    
Story 2:    
Story 3:    
adammarkus@gmail.com. Free to use, contact me if you republish it.    

I use the above table for all types of contribution questions, modifying the categories to fit the question.  What this kind of table does is force you to think about exactly how something from your background is meaningful enough to add value at Wharton.

ADVICE:

  1. Tell your best story or stories that highlight how you will add value at Wharton.  Help the reader understand what is special about you, about the story you tell, and the contribution you make.
  2. Learn a lot about Wharton so that you can write about really meaningful contributions.  Talk to alumni and current students, attend online chats, and dig through the website and otherwise.  Google and network your way into Wharton expertise in order to be able to have really deep contributions.
  3. With respect to the kind of contributions you make, don't fall into the "Obvious Knowledge Trap."  What do I mean? Here is an example: "As my work on the Tesla/McDonalds Merger and Acquisition shows, I have deep knowledge of  finance and accounting which I will use to help my classmates without a finance background." This topic is bad for a number of reasons. First, that you have such knowledge will be obvious from your resume, application form and/or transcripts, so it is better to focus on something that the reader will not already know about you. Second just sharing knowledge is not enough, better to focus on how you would do that. For example, instead of writing about your knowledge of a topic, write about how you helped others learn something and how you will use that to make a contribution at Wharton. Then specify the Wharton specific context (Classes, clubs, activities, Learning Teams) where you will make that contribution.

 

SPECIFIC ESSAY 2 REQUIREMENTS: Since the question calls for contributions, my suggestion is to include at least two contributions.  The question does not indicate how many aspects of your background you need to focus on. So you can focus on one story from your background or multiple stories. In 400 words, I think 4 topics would be a maximum from your background to focus on but that 2-3 topics makes more sense.

 

ESSAY STRUCTURE:

It will depend on whether you cover 1 or more topics.   Here are two sample structures that I think are most common:

One Background Topic Essay Structure:

  1. Discuss one personal, academic, or professional story.
  2. Explain one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.
  3. Explain another specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.

Two or Three Background Topic Essay Structure:

  1. Discuss one personal, academic or professional story. Explain at least one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.
  2. Discuss another personal, academic or professional story. Explain at least one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.
  3. Discuss another personal, academic or professional story. Explain at least one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.

Both of the above structures can work well for this kind of essay. It just depends on whether you want to cover one story in depth  and then show two or more contributions from it or show greater diversity of your experience and focus on 2-3 stories.  To tell a story about your background sufficiently and also explain what it shows you will add value at Wharton is very hard to do really effectively in less than 100 words, so 4 topics would be a maximum from my perspective. That said, I will encourage my clients to focus on 1-3 topics.

 

 

Additional Question (required for all Reapplicants):

  • Please share with the Admissions Committee how you have reflected and grown since your previous application and discuss any relevant updates to your candidacy (e.g., changes in your professional life, additional coursework, extracurricular/volunteer engagements, etc.). (250 words)

 

Reapplicants, an effective answer here will do the following:

1. Showcase what has changed since your last application that now makes you a better candidate.
2. Refine your goals. I think it is reasonable that they may have altered since your last application, but if the change is extreme, you had better explain why.
3. Make a better case for why Wharton is right for you.

For more about reapplication, please see "A guide to my resources for reapplicants."

 

Please use this space to share any additional information about yourself that cannot be found elsewhere in your application and that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee. This space can also be used to address any extenuating circumstances (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, areas of weakness, etc.) that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. (500 words)

Second, for addressing any extenuating circumstances: As with the school's other optional question, do not put an obvious essay for another school here. If you read the above, it should be clear enough that this is the place to explain anything negative or potentially negative in your background. If you have no explanation for something negative, don't bother writing about it. For example if your GPA is 2.9 and you have no good explanation for why it is 2.9, don't bother writing something that looks like a lame excuse. This is more likely to hurt than help you. In the same vein, don't waste the committee's time telling them that your GMAT is a much better indicator than your GPA (the opposite is also true). They have heard it before and they will look at both scores and can draw their own conclusions without you stating the obvious. That said, if you have a good explanation for a bad GPA, you should most certainly write about it. In addition to GMAT/GRE, TOEFL, and GPA problems, other possible topics include issues related to recommendations, serious gaps in your resume, concerns related to a near total lack of extracurricular activities, and  major issues in your personal/professional life that you really think the admissions office needs to know about.

 

Best of luck with your Wharton application for the Class of 2027!

-Adam Markus

Columbia Business School MBA Essays for August 2025 Entry

 The most important thing I can tell you about gaining admission to Columbia Business School's Class of 2027, aside from my essay analysis below, is to apply in Round 1 (Deadline September 10, 2024).  Based on what occurred with CBS applications for August 2024 entry- Hard but normal for admission in R1 and terrible in R2 (incredibly rate of rejection and waitlisting reported worldwide)- I am telling every applicant I encounter to apply in Round 1 for Fall 2025 entry if at all possible. Given that CBS takes the Executive Assessment  (Try to get at least a 150, 155 is better and 160 or over is good) in lieu of GMAT or GRE,  it is along with other schools that take the EA (NYU, Duke, Darden, Stanford MSx), an easy place to apply to R1. Even if you are applying everywhere else in R2, apply to CBS in R1 if you want to maximize your shot for August 2025 entry.   The Round 2 deadline is January 7th  and Round 3 deadline is appropriately April 1st because unless you are a very special person who does not need financial aid and is absolutely super amazing and unique, you have to be a fool to apply for that round.

 

If you are considering January 2025 entry, see my J-term post here. In that post I discuss the difference between August and January term entry.

 

The second most important thing I can tell you, aside from my essay analysis, is that you need to learn about a lot about CBS.  It is one of the schools that requires knowing a lot about it through networking with current students and alumni.  CBS wants to be loved.  Comparatively speaking, the amount of engagement you should have with this school is very high compared to the rest of the M7 because they ask in their application forms for your student, alumni, and adcom contact.  For more about this issue, see my post from last year, How much do I really need to know about an MBA program to prepare a strong application for it? It varies!  It provides a comprehensive guide to this issue for CBS, the rest of the M7, and many other top schools.

 

Along with HBS, Stanford, and INSEAD, I think CBS is one of the best first applications to work on. In the case of CBS, Essay 1 requires more of a focus on goals than any other school, so doing it gives applicants all the content they need for any school's goals essays.  Also Essay 3, provides a perfect length for explaining why you want to attend a specific MBA program. Make that argument right for CBS and it will help you with other schools that require similar essay content.

You can find testimonials from my clients admitted for Columbia Business School here.  Since 2007, when I established my own consultancy (I have been an MBA admissions consultant since 2001), I have been fortunate to work with 98 clients admitted to Columbia Business School for Fall term,  J-Term, and Deferred Admission. 

 

For my post on re-application to Columbia, see here. For my analysis of recommendations , please see here. For my analysis of Columbia Business School application interviews, please see here

 

The Essay Questions and the Immediate Post-MBA Goals Statement

The questions are taken from the website.

Immediate Post-MBA Goals Statement

What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)

Examples of possible responses:
“Work in business development for a media company.”
“Join a strategy consulting firm.”
“Launch a data-management start-up.”

 

Remember this is 50 characters, not words! This would be about 5-10 words. The question itself, fortunately, includes the above examples to make it clear what Columbia is looking for here. Given the length, you can't possibly expect to explain what you want to do short-term.  That is what Essay 1 is for. In fact, it is best to simply write this little statement after you have a good working version of Essay 1.  CBS is looking for a short, but a very clear statement of what you intend to do after your MBA. If you have difficulty explaining your immediate post-MBA plans in the space given, I think that is likely an indication that your plans are too complex, vague, or otherwise not well thought out. What you state here should be backed up by what you discuss in Essay 1 and 2 (or the reapplicant essay for reapplicants).

If you can be clever or catchy in formulating this response that is fine, but it is a completely secondary consideration to simply stating something that is very clear and that is completely consistent with what you write in Essay 1 and 2. Being clever is not critical here, being clear is.

 

 

Essay #1: 

Through your resume and recommendation, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next three to five years and what is your long-term dream job? (500 words)

Since I have found it necessary to make this clear to clients:  THIS ESSAY IS COMPLETELY FUTURE FOCUSED. That is why they say they "have a clear sense of your professional path to date."  Any statements you make about your past experience should be analytical rather than descriptive and for the sole purpose of explaining what you want to do in the future and why. Discuss your past to help establish your motivation for your goals. If they wanted a detailed past history, they would not have worded the question the way they do. 

A BAD CBS Essay 1 will typically consist of extended discussion of past experience, lack of explanation of post-MBA goals, and inability to distinguish between long-term goals as typically required by other schools and a long-term dream job.  Here is what you can do to avoid that:

 

Using your 500 words
I think a good essay will consist of the following components
-A first paragraph that begins to the answer directly (briefly states either or both goals or an overall mission relating to both so the reader does not have to guess what the subject of the essay is) and that VERY BRIEFLY explains whatever aspects of background and/or personal motivation that are necessary to help the reader understand your answers to the two questions CBS is asking here.
- A clear short-term 3-5 year plan. Explain motivation and past experience if it has not already been discussed sufficiently.
- A clear dream job, not just a long-term goal or vision but an actual imagined highly aspirational role. Explain motivation and past experience if it has not already been discussed sufficiently.
- Since Essay 3 is focused on why CBS, you should not write about that here. However you may need to explain why you need an MBA in general to achieve your goals.
 
 
"What are your career goals over the next 3-5 years"
 
CBS wants to know exactly what you want to do after your MBA and why.  You need to have a clear plan.  Explain not only what you want to do, but why you want to do it. Some questions you want to answer here:
How does the post MBA role you will have relate to your longer term career objectives? 
How does it relate to your past experience?
What kind of firms do you want to work for? 
What is the intended role?
Don't hedge more than is absolutely necessary because you want provide a clear believable, achievable story. 
 
 
You want want to explain why need an MBA now to get into that role but only briefly as you have an entire essay for explaining why CBS.  The point of mentioning MBA here would be if it is not obvious why an MBA is needed to achieve this goal or if you cannot get the topic into Essay 3. 
 
 
This is a reality based question so provide a well-researched reality based answer.  See https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/recruiters/employmentreport to figure out where CBS graduates go.  If you are mentioning a role, industry, or company that does not recruit at CBS and your post-MBA goals are not entrepreneurial or in a family business, you have a problem. Make CBS adcom believe in your short-term plan.  This is not a good school for confused people, it is one for those who know what they want and have an initial plan for how to achieve it.  If you need a lot of hand holding and want to be part of a highly collaborative intense community this is not the best school for you. It is a commuter school (now more than ever because no lives around the Manhattanville campus)
 
 
 
what would be your long-term dream job?
 
IT IS A DREAM! Tell them a story about the future, not just mentioning a role but painting a picture.  CBS is inviting you to showcase your ambition and future potential.  What is your vision?  What kind of impact do you want make in your life?  Assume you succeed and don't just become another middle management type.
 
 
Consider illustrious CBS alumni:  See https://www.businessbecause.com/news/notable-alumni/7134/columbia-business-school-notable-alumni and https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-columbia-business-school-alumni-and-students/reference.  For my post on Warren Buffet, CBS's most famous alumnus, see here.  How will you reach their level?
 
 
Think about the future. Imagine not on how the world is now, but on how it might be in10, 20, 30 years from now. Describe that future and how you see yourself in it.  The future you present might be 10 years from now or 20 or 30 or more years.  The point is to showcase your ambition and vision. 
 
 
 
What makes your vision of the future different? Consider the following when formulating a vision:
 
- Is your vision based on a problem you want to solve?  If you are are merely providing a solution that already exists and just saying you want to be in charge of implementing it, your vision is dull if the problem is a well known one. You need have a unique proposed solution and/or a unique problem to be solved.
 
 
-Is your vision based on a future opportunity that you are forecasting? You don't need a business plan but you need to be able to articulate what the  opportunity is and hypothesize how you might address it.
 
 
-Is your vision based on a coming technology?  That is say, are you predicting the future and making a bet on what technology will enable and you can do with it? Avoid fake futures:  A fake future is merely the present expressed as a future desire but without anything that actually sounds like the future.  Imagine future tech platforms and technologies. Think like an inventor, a science fiction writer, or a futurologist.
 
 
-Is your vision based on a specific value or focus that differentiates it from others? Your vision can be informed by a value that is a source of motivation and can help to distinguish your way of discussing your role in the future from others.
 
 
-Is your vision based on a specific organizational role you see yourself in?  For example, such as head of your family business or being a CEO?  Such roles seem generic but can become specific if you tell the right story about why you want the role and what you would do with it.
 
-While your vision of your long-term should be a dream, I think it should not be a total fantasy but rather a dream that, while potentially hard to achieve is not outside the realm of what a reader could be believe.
 
 
When I work with clients on their long term vision, I  typically ask them to come up with a few different initial answers if they don't already have a good one in place. We use these as the basis for a conversation that then leads to the creation of a specific future vision.
 
 
GOALS AND WHY MBA ANALYSIS FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT

If you are having problems clearly articulating your goals either in Essay 1 or in the 50 character statement,  I think GapSWOT, and ROI analysis are great ways for understanding what your goals are, why you want a degree, and how you will use it. The following table will help you with both Essay 1 and Essay 3. 

 

 

The following image may not work for all browsers. If so, see here.

(A Google Docs version of this matrix can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WobczFFLHBzQRxUeuwBRNmGQ3q-RKP_94iGHuLlXXEs/edit?usp=sharing)

 
 
Step 1. Begin by analyzing your "Present Career." What roles and responsibilities have you had in clubs, part-time jobs, internships, volunteer activities, etc.? What was/is your functional role(s)? What was/are your responsibilities?
Next, analyze your present strengths and weaknesses for succeeding in your present career. In particular, some of your greatest strengths may have been demonstrated outside of work, so make sure you are accounting for them.
Strengths: What are you good at? Where do you add value? What are you praised for? What are you proud of?
Weakness: What are you bad at? What are you criticized for? What do you try to avoid due to your own limitations? What do you fear?
Next, analyze your situation in right now. What opportunities exist for your growth and success? What threats could limit your career growth?
 

 

Step 2. Now, do the same thing in Step 1 for your "Post-MBA" future after you have earned your graduate degree. If you cannot complete this step you need to do more research and need to think more about it. I frequently help clients with this issue through a process of brainstorming.

 

Step 3. If you could complete step 2, then you should see the "Gap" between your present and your future. What skills, knowledge, and other resources do you need to close the gap between your present and future responsibilities, strengths, and opportunities?  THIS IS WILL HELP YOU ANSWER ESSSAY 3.
 

 

 

Step 4. After completing Step 3, you now need to determine how an MBA will add value to you. It is possible that an increased salary as a result of job change will be sufficient "ROI" for the degree to justify itself, but you should show how a degree will allow you to reach your career goals. How will the degree enhance your skills and opportunities and help you overcome your weaknesses and external threats? If you can complete Step 4, then you should be ready to explain what your goals are, why you want a degree, and the relationship between your past and future career, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

 

The above table will also help you answer such common interview questions as: Where do you want to work after you finish your degree? Why do you want an MBA? What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are your goals?

 

Be informed about your goals. Columbia Admissions needs to believe you know what you are talking about. If you are changing careers, no one expects you to be an expert, but you should come across as having a clear plan based on real research into your future. If you are planning on staying in your present industry, you should be well informed not only about the companies you have worked for but about the industry as a whole. If you are not already doing so, read industry related publications and network.

 

Those applicants who are changing fields should most certainly read industry related publications in their intended field. Additionally, I suggest conducting informational interviews with at least one peer level and one senior level person in that field. Conduct a peer level interview to get a good idea of what it would be like to actually work in that industry. Conduct a senior level interview to get the perspective of someone who can see the big picture and all the little details as well. Don't know anyone in your intended field? Network! One great way to start is through LinkedIn. Another is by making use of your undergraduate alumni network and/or career center. No matter whether you are changing fields or not, learn what is hot now and try to figure out what will be hot by the time you graduate. Now, of course, this is just a plan and chances are that what is hot in your industry or field now may very well be cold in the future.
 
 
The point is to come across to Columbia Adcom as someone who is not only well informed but has CUTTING-EDGE knowledge. Look at CBS Insights. Some other great general sources for learning what is hot: Harvard Working KnowledgeHarvard Business Review,  Stanford Social Innovation Review, Knowledge @ Wharton, and the Aspen Institute.  Other sources: Read magazines, websites, and books  and listen/watch podcasts/lectures that relate to your intended field.

 

If at the end of the above process you feel as though you are uncertain about whether you need an MBA, please see Do You Really Need an MBA?

 

Essay 2. The PPIL DEI Question

The Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership (PPIL) is a co-curricular program designed to provide students with the skills and strategies needed to develop as inclusive leaders.  Through various resources and programming, students explore and reflect on the following five inclusive leadership skills:  Mitigating Bias and Prejudice; Managing Intercultural Dialogue; Addressing Systemic Inequity; Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking; and Creating an Inclusive Environment.

Describe a time or situation when you had the need to utilize one of these five skills, and tell us the actions you took and the outcome. (250 words)

 

What is nice about this question is that can be used for a wide variety of answers in a personal, academic, professional, or extracurricular content.  The actual question itself is behavioral and really fits the STAR (Situation, Task, Action(s), Result) approach to such questions.  While CBS does not mention the task (your role), I think it is important that you keep that in mind.  A good answer will efficiently explain the situation (and given the length of the essay, cannot be context heavy), explain your role in the situation, explain what you did, and clearly state the result.  The word breakdown might be:  Situation/Task (~50 words), Action(s) ~150 words consisting of 1-3 actions, Outcome (~50 words).

 

The essay topic has been modified and the situation where you utilized one of these five skills is very open ended.  You may have succeeded, partially succeeded, or failed  in the situation.  That said, I think it is easier to write about being successful rather than discussing a failure because such an answer requires discussing what you learned and given the overall essay length, this might prove difficult. It might also prove risky to write about failure here if you come across as not fully upholding the values implied by this essay question.  On the other hand a failure utilizing one of these skills could work well if you highlight the insight gained and how that insight  subsequently helped you. I would avoid a situation where your use of one of the five skills was ambiguous as this is unlikely to make for a good essay.

 

Let's consider the various thematic options here and how they might be used.  Of course, there are certainly more ways of doing this effectively than will be able to elaborate on here.

 

For details about the Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership (PPIL), see https://groups.gsb.columbia.edu/ppil/home/. PPIL is a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) initiative that just had its soft launch in spring 2021 and has subsequently been developed.

The specific language of DEI as well as five categories for possible answers may not be familiar to some applicants, especially those coming for countries, without such practices. Hence I will define/explain the categories and suggest possible ways of writing on them. Unfortunately CBS still has yet to define these categories and the PPIL does not include definitions/explanations either and since these terms are subject to rather different interpretation, I will simply provide my own, which are by no means comprehensive.  Should CBS explain these terms then I will alter this post accordingly. Since the launch in 2021 they still have yet to do that, which I consider to be extremely unhelpful and not inclusive, especially for those coming from outside of the United States.

One major PPUL site update since 2021 has been Program Insights, which I recommend reviewing as it might help with brainstorming essay topics.

 

Mitigating Bias and Prejudice

For some reason, CBS uses both "Bias" and "Prejudice", which are synonyms and hence can be used to define each other. I will use "bias" here.  Explanation: To mitigate bias ( defined as "inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair"), is to alleviate, lessen,  or weaken a prejudice. Note that mitigating might not actually eliminate a bias outright but would attempt to reduce its impact.  In addition to attempting to control for overt bias (such as an open prejudice against a specific group), another form of bias mitigation involves becoming aware of and controlling for unconscious bias, which is a common idea in the DEI field and is defined as "social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing."

 

A typical example of conscious bias would be the outright exclusion of a particular group from leadership roles. For example, a student club that is extremely hierarchical and does not allow junior members to take positions of responsibility. Another example would be a preference in hiring more males over females based on some kind of overtly stated rationale.

 

A typical example of unconscious bias would be a sexist perception such that a male who is highly vocal and opinionated is described as  "a strong leader/go getter" while a women who exhibits the same behavior is described as "pushy/annoying. " The person doing the describing  might not be aware they are using completely different language to describe the same behavior.

 

A good answer here will involve the direct confrontation and attempt to overcome a conscious or unconscious bias(es).

 

Managing Intercultural Dialogue

 

Explanation: The idea of "Managing Intercultural Dialogue" could also be called cross cultural communication: "Cross cultural communication thus refers to the communication between people who have differences in any one of the following: styles of working, age, nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Cross cultural communication can also refer to the attempts that are made to exchange, negotiate and mediate cultural differences by means of language, gestures and body language."

 

The challenges of communication include fundamental differences in assumptions based on identify differences, use of language (Two people using the same language can easily miscommunicate if they don't share or understand each other's definitions),  and misinterpretation based on making assumptions about a behavior that has a different meaning than the observer understands.

 

An effective answer here will involve handling cross-cultural communication.  Examples might include actions involving negotiating, facilitating, and directly communicating with someone whose identity is very different from your own.

 

 

Addressing Systemic Inequality

 

Systemic inequality is also know as structural inequality. I will use a definition of the latter provided by the United Nations:

"Structural inequality is defined as a condition where one category of people are attributed an unequal status in relation to other categories of people. This relationship is perpetuated and reinforced by a confluence of unequal relations in roles, functions, decisions, rights, and opportunities. As opposed to cultural inequality, which focuses on the individual decisions associated with these imbalances, structural inequality refers specifically to the inequalities that are systemically rooted in the normal operations of dominant social institutions, and can be divided into categories like residential segregation or healthcare, employment and educational discrimination."

 

An effective answer here would attempting to overcome organizational discrimination that is systemic against a particular group or groups that is practiced as a matter of outright policy. It could be everything from discriminating against the hiring of LGBT employees to seniority based discrimination that prevents junior players in a sports club from being starting players.

 

 

Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking

With respect to "Understanding identity" this would mean understanding the identity of others in relationship to you and "Perspective taking" is the ability to formulate insights based on understanding the other's identity.  Basically it means thinking outside of your own perspective and looking at a situation from the viewpoint of another. It is a specific form of empathy based on understanding why the other (person, organization, group) looks at a situation differently than you do.

 

Creating an Inclusive Environment

Definition: Based on a definition of an inclusive workplace found here, I define an inclusive environment as follows: An environment that makes every person feel valued while also acknowledging their differences and how these differences contribute to a group/team/organization’s culture and  outcomes. 

 

Hence an effective answer would highlight the way(s) in which you made (or attempted to make)  a professional/academic/extracurricular/personal environment open to and benefitting from person(s)/perspective(s)/group(s) that had not previously been valued.

 

I will give a personal example, during my first year of college (1986), I joined a student quarterly with a mostly male staff.  Soon thereafter, as co-editor, I helped introduce a women's section to the paper in order to get women involved in the newspaper, to get their perspectives effectively included, and to increase our staff. We benefited from a greatly expanded team, went on to win Columbia Student Journalism awards, and my eventual replacement as editor -in-chief was a woman.  The biggest challenges involved overcoming the perspectives of older male staff members who did not understand why there needed to be a women's section and to convince female students that we were earnest in our objectives to include and empower them.

 

 

ESSAY 3: WHY CBS?

We believe Columbia Business School is a special place with a collaborative learning environment in which students feel a sense of belonging, agency, and partnership--academically, culturally, and professionally.

How would you co-create your optimal MBA experience at CBS? Please be specific. (250 words)

 

Keep in mind that this question is focused on why Columbia Business School is the right MBA program for you. That is to say what does its curriculum, community, and network offer you that will help you reach the professional objectives you have mentioned in Essay 1? And beyond, professional objectives who does CBS fit you as a person from an academic and cultural perspective.   For a more general discussion about the whole issue of academic fit, see here. If you are unclear about why you need from an MBA program, see the GAP, SWOT, and ROI table above.

I think there are two aspects to the question:  (1) Why CBS is right for you and (2) Co-creation.   

 

WHY CBS IS RIGHT FOR YOU

Balance and integrate Goals and Why Columbia?

A good version of Essay 3 will connect goals with Columbia. If you use the GAP/SWOT table above, Step 3 relates directly to the content of this essay. That is to say, the objective is not merely to explain why  Columbia fits you, but why it aligns with the goals discussed in Essay 1.  Your objective is to write an essay that shows Columbia why it is the best possible place for you to achieve your career goals. If your goals are not showing themselves to be particularly well supported by Columbia, you may need to either change your goals or decide to apply elsewhere.

 

Beyond  Goals

Beyond direct goals reasons for why Columbia is right for you, consider what aspects of its curriculum or community support your personal and professional interests. This might be a club or activity that you want to engage in. For more about CBS clubs, see here.

 
The resources available at CBS and Columbia University are vast, so figure out specifically what you want from the school as you will need to discuss that. The program is flexible, so identify your needs from Columbia as specifically as possible. After all, you want to show them you love and need them For learning about what is hot at Columbia, I suggest taking a look at their  Ideas and Insights Homepage.  You will likely want to write about taking a Master Class. I also recommend learning about the Cluster system as it core part of the CBS experience.  Japanese applicants should most certainly visit https://www.jbacolumbia.com/.  All applicants should attend online chats and reach out to alumni and current students if they have not done so.  Feel free to visit campus if you want, but the most important thing to do is connect with students and alumni because you will need to mention that in the application form.  
 
 
 
Explaining your learning needs: 
 
 
WHAT NOT TO DO
An example of circular (tautological) reasoning:  "I want to take Capital Markets & Investments because I am interested in learning about capital market investing."
This kind of circular reasoning is so common. Usually it takes place within a paragraph consisting of many such sentences. They actually convey nothing about the applicant.  They are just abstract needs and will have limited impact on your reader.  The admissions reader wants to learn about you, not about their own program.
 
 
WHAT TO DO
An example of an explanation for why:  "While I have been exposed to finance through my work at MegaBank of Joy, I presently lack the kind of comprehensive understanding of capital market investing that I will need to succeed as an investment analyst and I know I can gain at Columbia."  A more complete explanation would include additional details about the kind of issues that the applicant is interested in learning about and/or specific ways the applicant intended to apply what he or she would learn at Columbia.  By focusing on very specific learning needs and explaining those needs in relationship to one's goals and/or past experience, the admissions reader will be learning about you.

 

While in recent years, the school emphasized its New York City location in Essay 3 it no longer does. You need only discuss that if it is especially useful for making the best possible argument for why CBS fits you. In general, such arguments are often dumb cliches and since they are not what the question is focused, don't waste words on the topic.

Co-creation

The use of "co-create" is new this year and indicates that they are looking for answer that includes how you will actively optimize on your CBS experience.  CBS is not a hand-holding kind of place. It is a commuter school with a core curriculum but with extensive opportunities for defining your curricular and extracurricular experience that is specific to you. Think about what you really want to focus your time on and contribute to.

WHAT NOT TO DO: Don't write an essay consisting of a laundry list of activities you want to engage in.

WHAT TO DO: Make highly personalized intelligent choices in the form of a learning plan specific to you. In 250 words, you can highlight like 3-4 specific topics.  Say something meaningful.   Show how you be an engaged member of the CBS community.


Optional Essay:

Is there any further information that you wish to provide the Admissions Committee? If so, use this space to provide an explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or your personal history. This does not need to be a formal essay. You may submit bullet points. (Maximum 500 Words)
 
 
As with other school's optional questions, do not put an obvious essay for another school here. If you read the above, it should be clear enough that this is the place to explain anything negative or potentially negative in your background. If you have no explanation for something negative, don't bother writing about it. For example, if your GPA is 2.9 and you have no good explanation for why it is 2.9, don't bother writing something that looks like a lame excuse. This is more likely to hurt than help you. In the same vein, don't waste the committee's time telling them that your GMAT is a much better indicator than your GPA (the opposite is also true). They have heard it before and they will look at both scores and can draw their own conclusions without you stating the obvious. That said, if you have a good explanation for a bad GPA, you should most certainly write about it.In addition to GMAT/GRE, TOEFL, and GPA problems, other possible topics include issues related to recommendations, serious gaps in your resume, concerns related to a near total lack of extracurricular activities, and major issues in your personal/professional life that you really think the admissions office needs to know about.You can certainly write on something positive here if you think its omission will be negative for you, but before you do, ask yourself these questions:
1. If they did not ask it, do they really need to know it?
2. Will the topic I want to discuss significantly improve my overall essay set?
3. Is the topic one that would not be covered from looking at other parts of my application?
4. Is the essay likely to be read as being a specific answer for Columbia and not an obvious essay for another school?
If you can answer "Yes!" to all four questions, it might be a good topic to write about.

 

Columbia Loves to Be Loved

One thing that is consistent about Columbia Business School is that they want to know that their school is your first choice. If you have an alumni interview you can be expected to be asked about that very directly. See here for my advice on Columbia interviews. Best of luck for gaining admission to the Columbia Business School Class of 2027!

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