When you’re writing an MBA essay, you shouldn’t let your mind wander. Tell your story in brief or use a modern alternative like a slideshow or a video
Among the many famous quotes of William Shakespeare, MBA applicants would do well to remember this one: “Brevity is the soul of wit”. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to draw a picture of yourself with just a few precise strokes, and it is because the admissions committees know it quite well that they are reducing the word count and the number of essays required.
Since 2014, applicants to Kellogg School of Management have to submit two essays instead of three, and their answers to prompts have to be shorter. According to Kate Smith, assistant dean of admissions at Kellogg, new requirements present a greater challenge to prospective students. They have to think carefully before putting anything on paper and pick just the right words to express their ideas, as they can’t exceed the limit.
Ten years ago, Harvard School of Business’ rules stated that applicants had to write seven essays each. This year, there’s only one essay to write: how the candidate would introduce themselves to other people at university.
Another example of the essay quantity going down is Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania): five years ago it required four essays from the applicants, and next year there will be only one.
Columbia University still has a requirement of four essays, but the one where you have to describe your career goals and how the MBA degree would help them has been reduced from 200 characters to just 50.
Reduction and shortening of essays can be seen as a recent trend. This is due to the growing popularity of business schools (it’s especially true for top universities): more people are applying, hence admissions committees cannot cope with the rising amount of applications. To make their job a bit easier, the schools decided to ask for shorter essays.
Furthermore, it seems that conventional essays aren’t good enough for top business schools anymore. Another popular trend of the next admissions year is new essay formats: for instance, the Chicago Booth School of Business tasks its candidates with making a slideshow based on photos from their web site to explain why they think Booth is the best choice.
Apparently, the reason for such sudden inventiveness and creativity is quite simple: as more and more people use the services of admissions consulting agencies, essays are starting to look nearly identical. Of course, it’s most unfortunate for admissions committees: they’d like to see unique and personal essays that would tell them as much as possible about their future students. That’s why they have to change their essay requirements every year, making them as un-generic as possible. Schools have to make sure consulting agencies won’t be able to catch up with their ever-changing application prompts as quickly as next fall’s admissions season.
There is one more reason for the growing popularity of slideshows, presentations and videos as an acceptable application format. According to Kate Smith, many top American companies require that candidates submit video messages during online interviews, so an ability to look presentable on video is very important for future businessmen and top executives.
Although making a quality presentation of yourself is difficult, it’s still entirely possible. You just have to look convincing, thoughtful and at ease. Talk about your future career plans and your background, and don’t be afraid of awkward pauses – just gather your thoughts together and go on. Remember, universities and their admissions committees do not expect perfect applications from you. They need something to show what kind of person you are and to learn all about your career choices and prospective intellectual contribution in class.
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