mba scholarship essay tips

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Tips and strategies for crafting an outstanding scholarship essay.

Scholarship essays are an essential part of many scholarship applications. They provide an opportunity for you to showcase your personality, goals, and achievements to scholarship committees. Crafting a winning scholarship essay requires time, effort, and attention to detail. In this comprehensive guide, we will provide you with tips and strategies to help you write a compelling and successful scholarship essay that sets you apart from the competition.

From understanding the prompt to drafting your essay and polishing the final draft, we will walk you through each step of the process. You will learn how to identify key themes, structure your essay effectively, and highlight your strengths and experiences in a way that resonates with the scholarship committee. Whether you are a high school student applying for a local scholarship or a college student seeking a national award, this guide will equip you with the tools you need to create a standout scholarship essay.

The Importance of Scholarships

Scholarships play a crucial role in helping students achieve their educational goals. They provide financial assistance to deserving individuals who may not have the means to fund their education on their own. This support can make a significant difference in a student’s ability to pursue higher education and achieve their dreams.

Furthermore, scholarships not only alleviate the financial burden on students and their families but also promote academic excellence. By incentivizing students to strive for academic success, scholarships encourage individuals to work hard, stay motivated, and excel in their studies. This can lead to a more educated and skilled workforce, benefiting society as a whole.

In addition, scholarships can open doors to opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach for many students. They can provide access to top-tier universities, prestigious programs, and valuable experiences that can shape a student’s future and career prospects. Scholarships empower individuals to reach their full potential and pursue their passions without the constraints of financial limitations.

Overall, scholarships are not only important for individuals seeking to further their education but also for society as a whole. By investing in scholarships, we invest in the future of education, innovation, and progress. Scholarship recipients have the opportunity to make a positive impact on their communities and the world, thanks to the support and opportunities provided by scholarships.

Why You Should Apply

Applying for scholarships is a smart and strategic move for students looking to further their education. Here are a few reasons why you should take the time to apply:

• Financial Support: Scholarships offer a valuable source of funding that can help offset the cost of tuition, books, and other educational expenses.
• Merit Recognition: Winning a scholarship is a testament to your hard work, dedication, and academic achievements. It can boost your confidence and open up new opportunities.
• Reduced Debt: By securing scholarships, you can reduce the need for student loans and graduate with less debt, giving you a stronger financial foundation after graduation.
• Networking Opportunities: Many scholarship programs provide networking opportunities with other scholars, mentors, and industry professionals, helping you build valuable connections for the future.
• Personal Growth: The process of applying for scholarships forces you to reflect on your goals, achievements, and aspirations, fostering personal growth and self-improvement.

Overall, applying for scholarships is a worthwhile investment in your education and future success. Don’t miss out on the chance to secure the financial support and recognition you deserve!

Benefits of Winning

Winning a scholarship can offer numerous benefits to students, both academically and personally. Some of the key benefits include:

• Financial Assistance: Scholarships provide financial support for tuition, books, and other educational expenses, reducing the financial burden on students and their families.
• Recognition and Prestige: Winning a scholarship can enhance a student’s academic resume and demonstrate their merit to future employers and academic institutions.
• Opportunities for Growth: Scholarships often come with additional opportunities such as internships, networking events, and mentorship programs, which can help students develop their skills and build connections in their field.
• Increased Confidence: Achieving a scholarship can boost a student’s confidence and motivation, encouraging them to aim higher in their academic and personal goals.
• Debt Reduction: By receiving a scholarship, students can decrease their reliance on student loans and minimize the amount of debt they accumulate during their education.

Overall, winning a scholarship can have a transformative impact on a student’s educational journey, opening doors to new opportunities and providing valuable support along the way.

Key Elements in Scholarship Essays

Scholarship essays are crucial for securing financial aid for your education. To craft a winning scholarship essay, you must include key elements that showcase your unique qualities and experiences. These elements include:

1. Personal Story: Share a personal story that highlights your values, goals, and aspirations. This will help the scholarship committee get to know you better.

2. Relevance: Make sure your essay is relevant to the scholarship you are applying for. Tailor your essay to fit the requirements and objectives of the scholarship program.

3. Clear Structure: Organize your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Use transitions to connect your ideas smoothly.

4. Strong Thesis: Present a strong thesis statement that outlines the main point of your essay. This will guide your writing and keep your essay focused.

5. Unique Voice: Use your unique voice and perspective to stand out from other applicants. Avoid clichés and generic statements.

6. Proofreading: Proofread your essay carefully to eliminate errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. A polished essay shows your professionalism and attention to detail.

By incorporating these key elements into your scholarship essay, you can increase your chances of winning financial aid for your education.

Understanding the Prompt

One of the most crucial aspects of writing a winning scholarship essay is understanding the prompt. Take your time to carefully read and analyze the prompt provided by the scholarship committee. Pay attention to the key points and requirements outlined in the prompt, such as the essay topic, word limit, formatting guidelines, and any specific questions that need to be addressed.

Create a table or list to break down the prompt into manageable sections. Highlight the main themes or keywords that you should focus on in your essay. By understanding the prompt thoroughly, you can ensure that your essay directly addresses the criteria set by the scholarship committee and increases your chances of success.

Highlighting Your Achievements

When crafting a scholarship essay, it is crucial to highlight your achievements in a way that showcases your skills, talents, and accomplishments. Be sure to emphasize your academic achievements, extracurricular activities, community service involvement, leadership roles, and any awards or recognition you have received. Use specific examples and anecdotes to demonstrate the impact of your achievements and how they have shaped you as a person. By highlighting your achievements, you can effectively communicate your potential to the scholarship committee and increase your chances of receiving the scholarship.

Tips for Writing a Standout Essay

When it comes to crafting a winning scholarship essay, there are several key tips to keep in mind to ensure your essay stands out from the crowd:

Showing Your Unique Voice

When crafting a scholarship essay, it’s important to remember that you are the only person who can truly tell your story. Don’t be afraid to let your personality and voice shine through in your writing. This is your chance to stand out from the crowd and show the scholarship committee why you deserve to win.

Whether it’s through a unique storytelling style, a powerful personal anecdote, or a quirky sense of humor, find a way to make your essay memorable and engaging. Your essay should reflect who you are as a person, not just your accomplishments and achievements.

Use your own words and express your ideas in a way that is authentic and genuine. Your unique voice is what will make your essay memorable and resonate with the scholarship committee. Be yourself, and let your personality shine through in every word you write.

Structuring Your Essay Effectively

When it comes to crafting a winning scholarship essay, the structure is just as important as the content. Here are some tips on how to structure your essay effectively:

1. Introduction: Start your essay with a strong hook that grabs the reader’s attention. Introduce yourself and provide some background information about your achievements and goals.

2. Body paragraphs: Divide your essay into several paragraphs that each focus on a specific point or idea. Make sure to provide clear examples and evidence to support your arguments.

3. Conclusion: Summarize your main points and reiterate why you are the ideal candidate for the scholarship. End with a strong closing statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

4. Editing: Before submitting your essay, make sure to proofread and edit it carefully. Check for grammar and spelling errors, as well as clarity and coherence in your writing.

By following these tips, you can structure your scholarship essay effectively and increase your chances of winning that coveted award!

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• How to Write a Scholarship Essay | Template & Example

How to Write a Scholarship Essay | Template & Example

Published on October 11, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

A good scholarship essay demonstrates the scholarship organization’s values while directly addressing the prompt. If you plan ahead , you can save time by writing one essay for multiple prompts with similar questions.

Table of contents

Apply for a wide variety of scholarships, make a scholarship tracker spreadsheet, tailor your essay to the organization and the prompt, write a focused and relevant personal story, scholarship essay example, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Scholarships are a type of student financial aid that don’t require repayment. They are awarded based on various factors, including academic merit, financial need, intended major, personal background, or activities and interests.

Like college applications, scholarship applications often require students to submit their grades, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, and an essay.

A scholarship essay shares your values and qualities in the context of a specific question, such as “How does technology affect your daily life?” or “Who has had the greatest impact on your life?”

Be wary of scholarship scams

While some applications may not require an essay, be wary of scholarship scams that do the following:

• Guarantee you scholarship money for a fee
• Claim scholarship information is exclusive to their company
• Ask for your bank or credit card information to hold the scholarship

Some legitimate companies do charge for releasing comprehensive scholarship lists or creating a tailored list of scholarship opportunities based on your profile.

However, you can always discover scholarship opportunities for free through your school counselor, community network, or an online search.

Many students focus on well-known, large scholarship opportunities, which are usually very competitive. To maximize your chance of success, invest time in applying for a wide variety of scholarships: national and local, as well as big and small award amounts. There are also scholarships for international students .

In addition to charitable foundation and corporate scholarships, you should consider applying for institutional scholarships at your prospective universities, which can award money based on your application’s strength, your financial situation, and your demonstrated interest in the school.

Check with your guidance counselor, local organizations, community network, or prospective schools’ financial aid offices for scholarship opportunities. It’s a good idea to start applying as early as your junior year and continue throughout your senior year.

Choose the right scholarships for you

Choose scholarships with missions and essay topics that match your background, experiences, and interests. If the scholarship topic is meaningful to you, it will be easier for you to write an authentic and compelling essay.

Don’t shy away from applying for local scholarships with small dollar amounts. Even a few hundred dollars can help you pay for books.

Local scholarships may be more tailored to your community, background, and activities, so they’re likely more relevant to you. Fewer students apply for these scholarships, so you have less competition and a higher chance of success.

Some places to look for local scholarships include

• Civic organizations, such as the Rotary Club, Lions Club, etc.
• Your church, mosque, synagogue, or place of worship
• Community groups, such as the YMCA
• Ethnicity-based organizations
• Your local library or local small businesses
• Organizations related to your intended major
• Your city or town
• Your school district
• Unions, such as SEIU, the Teamsters, CWA, etc.
• Your employer or your parents’ employers
• Banks, credit unions, and local financial institutions

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

While researching scholarship opportunities, create a scholarship tracker spreadsheet to keep track of the following:

• Scholarship amounts
• Required application materials

You can use our free Google Sheets template to track your scholarship applications.

Scholarship application tracker template

You can also include scholarship essay prompts in your college essay tracker sheet . By grouping or color-code overlapping essay prompts, you can plan to write a single essay for multiple scholarships. Sometimes, you can also reuse or adapt your main college essay .

Even if you’re adapting another essay, it’s important to make sure your essay directly addresses the prompt, stays within the word count limit , and demonstrates the organization’s values. The scholarship committee will be able to tell if you reuse an essay that doesn’t quite respond to the prompt, so be sure to tailor it to the questions asked.

Research each organization

Before writing, research the scholarship organization’s mission and reason for awarding the scholarship. Learning more about the organization can help you select an appropriate topic and relevant story.

While you should tailor your essay to the organization’s values, maintain your authentic voice. Never use false or exaggerated stories. If the organization’s values don’t align with yours or you can’t brainstorm a relevant story for the scholarship, continue searching for other scholarship opportunities to find a more appropriate one for you.

After researching the organization, identify a specific personal experience that embodies its values and exemplifies why you will be a successful student.

Choose a story with the following criteria:

• Responds to the prompt
• Demonstrates the organization’s values
• Includes an authentic story
• Focuses on you and your experience, not someone else’s

A good scholarship essay is not

• A resume of your achievements
• A lengthy opinion piece about the essay topic
• An essay featuring a negative tone that puts down others

If appropriate, you can briefly address how the scholarship money will help you achieve your educational goals. You should also end with a brief thank-you.

Take a look at the full essay example below. Hover over the underlined parts to read explanations of why they work.

Prompt: Describe how working for Chelsea’s Chicken restaurant has developed leadership skills that will help you succeed in college. Give specific examples of leadership characteristics that you have exhibited during your employment with us.

As a nervous 16-year-old, I walked into Chelsea’s Chicken for my first day of work determined to make enough money to put gas in my car and buy pizza on the weekends. My only previous job was mowing my neighbors’ lawns when they were on vacation, so I had no idea what to expect. I was a bit intimidated by my new responsibilities, especially handling money and helping disgruntled customers.

However, it didn’t take me long to learn my way around the cash register and successfully address customer complaints. One day, Roger, the store manager, asked me if I wanted to join Chelsea’s Chicken Leadership Training Initiative. He said he saw leadership potential in me because of my attitude with the customers and my enthusiasm for learning new job responsibilities. It surprised me because I had never thought of myself as a leader, but I quickly agreed, and Roger handed me a three-ring binder that was thicker than my math and science textbooks put together! He told me to take it home and read over it during the following week.

In that binder, I discovered that being a leader means taking the initiative, especially when the job is undesirable. One week later, I got to practice that idea when a little kid threw up in the bathroom and missed the toilet. It smelled terrible, but I stepped forward and told Roger that I would clean it up. My coworkers thought I was crazy, but I started to believe in my leadership potential.

That night as we closed the store, Roger pulled me aside in the parking lot and told me that he could tell that I had been studying the manual. He wanted to give me more responsibility, along with a dollar-per-hour pay raise. I was surprised because I had been working there for only a couple of months, but his encouragement helped me make a connection: good leadership helps other people, and it often is rewarded. I was determined to experience more of both.

Within a month, I was ready to take the Team Leader exam, which mattered because I would receive a promotion and a much bigger raise if I passed. But, when I got to work, two of the scheduled team members had called in sick. We were noticeably short-handed, and our customers weren’t happy about it.

I walked back to the lockers, put on my vest and hat, and took my place behind an open register. Customers immediately moved into my line to place their orders. Roger looked at me with surprise and asked, “Did you forget that you’re testing tonight?” I responded, “No, sir—but what’s the use of taking a leadership test if you aren’t going to lead in real life?” Roger smiled at me and nodded.

He stayed late that night after we closed so that I could leave early and still take the test. I noticed that Roger was always staying late, helping employees learn new skills. His example taught me that leaders take the initiative to develop other leaders. He gave me a clear picture of what shared leadership looks like, making room for others to grow and excel. When I asked him where he learned to do that, he said, “From the same leadership manual I gave you!”

Chelsea’s Chicken has offered me so much more than a paycheck. Because of Roger’s example, I have learned to take the initiative to care for my family and friends, such as being the first to do the dishes without my mom asking or volunteering to pick up my friend for our SAT prep course. Now, as I prepare to enter college, I have confidence in my leadership ability. I know I’m signing up for a challenging major—Biology, Pre-Med—yet I also know that Chelsea’s Chicken has helped me to develop the perseverance required to complete my studies successfully.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

A scholarship essay requires you to demonstrate your values and qualities while answering the prompt’s specific question.

After researching the scholarship organization, identify a personal experience that embodies its values and exemplifies how you will be a successful student.

Invest time in applying for various scholarships , especially local ones with small dollar amounts, which are likely easier to win and more reflective of your background and interests. It will be easier for you to write an authentic and compelling essay if the scholarship topic is meaningful to you.

You can find scholarships through your school counselor, community network, or an internet search.

You can start applying for scholarships as early as your junior year. Continue applying throughout your senior year.

Yes, but make sure your essay directly addresses the prompt, respects the word count , and demonstrates the organization’s values.

If you plan ahead, you can save time by writing one scholarship essay for multiple prompts with similar questions. In a scholarship tracker spreadsheet, you can group or color-code overlapping essay prompts; then, write a single essay for multiple scholarships. Sometimes, you can even reuse or adapt your main college essay .

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7 Tips for a Winning MBA Scholarship Application

By Nicole Willson

While prospective business school students often need to obtain MBA scholarships and other forms of financial assistance to fund their studies, the process of filling out scholarship applications is not an easy one. Answering those required scholarship essay questions requires, “time, thought and a lot of editing,” states Piersten Gaines , a QS Scholarship winner this year and a member of Harvard’s MBA class of 2018. Here are seven tips from Gaines and seven of her fellow recipients of QS Scholarship awards in 2016 (be these in the QS Leadership or QS Community Scholarship categories) to put you on the path towards submitting a winning scholarship application.

1. Get past your fear of applying

“Don't be afraid to apply. It takes time and effort to fill out scholarship applications but this is a small risk compared to the potential rewards,” states entering part-time MBA student at UC Berkeley-Haas , Kota Reichert .

2. Apply for a variety of MBA scholarships

“As with any project or endeavor where you are seeking financial assistance, it is important to seek out and apply to as many sources as you are eligible for,” says Karl Schwonik , who will take his MBA at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School .

This tip extends even to sources of financial aid you are not confident of winning. Katherine Watson , a current MBA student at Columbia Business School advises prospective students to, “apply to a wide range of scholarship opportunities, even ones you think you have little to no chance of winning.”

3. Conduct thorough research

In order to be able to apply for a variety of scholarships, you need to conduct adequate research to identify all the opportunities that are relevant to your applicant profile. “Search all your options, national and international,” states Jorge Ordoñez R de la Gala , who will attend the University of Strathclyde Business School , starting this fall (autumn).

Of course, doing sufficient research means looking beyond business school websites. Kelechi Ezeozue , who will be enrolling at Cornell , has a note of caution for MBA scholarship applicants in this regard: “Don’t just rely on the school’s website; Google is your friend.”

4. Be persistent

“Just as you can have some great successes in securing funding, you can also have disappointments along the way. It’s important to keep applying if you feel the project is important and worthwhile pursuing,” reasons the entering Cambridge MBA, Schwonik.

Even if you haven’t yet felt the disappointment of an unsuccessful scholarship application, it can still be easy to feel weary at the prospect of having to submit scholarship essay responses on top of the work you’ve put into your MBA admissions essays. However incoming Harvard MBA, Gaines, cautions prospective MBAs against resting on their laurels if there is still work to be done. “As soon as you submit your last business school application, pat yourself on the back and be proud of yourself, but don’t get too comfortable. If you plan on securing some financial assistance, remain in essay mode!

5. Give yourself enough time to revise your scholarship essay

“Timing is always important, make sure you apply for scholarships on time so you have enough time to check them a few times,” states Strathclyde’s Ordoñez. That’s why it’s important to start your scholarship applications early and plan ahead.

Planning ahead worked for Gaines. She began her scholarship search immediately after deciding on attending Harvard Business School and, as we already know, ended up securing some financial assistance for her degree. “Start your scholarship application process as soon as your business school applications are submitted!” is her advice to applicants.

6. Make sure your scholarship essay makes a compelling case

“Narrate a story that not only paints you as a deserving candidate of a scholarship but also answers the question directly and in a compelling way,” says Sarah Wong , a QS Scholarship winner who is set to start her MBA at INSEAD .

Columbia MBA, Katherine Watson, also advises applicants to think carefully about their approach to a scholarship essay question. “Answer each question in a creative, authentic, and thoughtful way,” she says.

7. Write a scholarship essay that reveals who you really are

“Show your authentic personality and be genuine in your essays and applications!” is our final piece of advice, from Pulton Leung , a scholarship winner who will be starting at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in the fall.

This article was originally published in August 2016 . It was last updated in March 2021

Want more content like this Register for free site membership to get regular updates and your own personal content feed.

Nicole is the SEO manager of TopMBA.com, as well as a contributing author. She holds a BA in history and sociology, and a master's in library science. Aside from her work for QS, Nicole is a long-time contributing editor and administrator for WikiHow.

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How to Write a Powerful MBA Essay—With Examples

The MBA essay is critical to your business school application. Read our guide to writing the perfect MBA essay, with successful admit examples.

Posted April 4, 2024

Featuring Melanie E.

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Table of Contents

What is the mba essay.

The MBA admissions essay.

Those words alone are enough to make most MBA candidates run screaming. Writing in general is hard enough. Writing about why you want an MBA? Your short-term goals and career aspirations? What matters to you most, and why? Forget it.

Of course, you still have to write these essays.

The MBA essay is perhaps  the most important part of the business school application. (It's also getting more and more important by the day, with some business schools moving away from traditional, quantitative measuring sticks, like the GMAT and the GRE.) Every other part of the application — your GPA, your test scores, your letters of recommendation — are quantified, cut and dried, or out of your control. The essay is your chance to show up as a fully realized MBA candidate, with hopes, dreams, and vulnerabilities. Admissions committees are not simply assessing your candidacy as a future leader — they're looking to admit human beings. That's where the MBA applicant essays come in.

That being the case, rather than being intimidated by it, treat the essay like the opportunity that it is — the chance for you to highlight your unique, iridescent self; the only moment in the MBA admissions process (prior to the interview) when you can speak directly to the admissions officers; the time when you'll show them who you really are. It's not easy to write something that will do that, of course, but with the tips and tricks in this guide, and some help from one of Leland's vetted, world-class admissions coaches, we know you can do it. Give the essay the time, attention, and respect it deserves, and you'll be on your way to an offer of admission at your dream school.

Without further ado, let's dive in!

Ultimate MBA Essay Guide

See the MBA essay prompts, top tips from experts, and real examples from admits with this comprehensive guide.

How Long Will My MBA Essay Take?

First thing's first: let's talk about timing.

The MBA application is a behemoth; between exams, resumes, gathering your official transcripts, letters of recommendation, and the applications themselves, there's a lot to juggle. That being the case, we suggest you give yourself ample time to draft, write, and revise your essays. The last thing you want is to be rushed to the finish line.

So, give yourself  at least three months to write your MBA essays. That should allow you ample time to draft, write, and edit. For more information on timing your entire b-school application, click here for  A Comprehensive MBA Application Timeline--With Chart .

Now, on to the critical question:

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What Makes a Great MBA Essay?

At the highest level, the answer is the one that is truest to you. The whole point of these essays is to shine through as an authentic, vibrant human being, so the best essays are the ones that cut through the clutter, and allow you do to that.

Which begs the question — how  do you cut through the clutter and shine through as a vibrant human being? Here are four critical tips to follow as you begin thinking about your essays.

1. Answer the Question

This one sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many applicants launch into their story, get carried away, and forget to answer the question. Follow the prompt, and answer the question the admissions committee has asked you. Those prompts can actually be very useful when writing your essays — it's a great deal harder to write when you have no guidance or guardrails. With the MBA essays, you have a very specific question you need to answer. So answer it!

2. Be Specific

Another mistake some MBA applicants make is to stay at a high level in their essays, keeping their writing abstract and therefore inaccessible to the admissions committee. If at any point, an admissions officer could replace your name with the name of another applicant, then your essay isn't getting deep enough. It's not enough, for instance, to say that you suffered adversity in high school, or that you really, really want a Wharton MBA. You need to explain, in detail, the adversity you faced, and give concrete and unique reasons why you think Wharton is the right program for you. The best essays offer hyper-specific examples and anecdotes, with details and anecdotes that no other candidate could bring to the table. To get those anecdotes, we recommend using the STAR template, as explained below:

• Situation : What was the situation you were facing? Where were you? How old were you? If you were in a professional role during this anecdote, what was the role, and how long had you been in it? If you were volunteering, at what organization? How long had you been volunteering there? Why did you start? Offer all the relevant information that the admissions readers will need to understand your story.
• Task : What was the task at hand? What went wrong? In your professional role, what was the challenge you faced? In that volunteering experience, what were the hurdles you had to overcome? You can't have a good story without conflict or tension, so after you set up the anecdote, explain what that conflict or tension was (and remember, be specific!).
• Action : What was the action you took to resolve the problem? What did you have to do to fix that issue at work? How did you clear that hurdle in your volunteer experience? Again, be specific about how you came through on the other side of that conflict/tension — and while you're doing it, highlight your leadership capabilities as much as possible! Remember that top MBA programs are looking for future leaders who can assess a situation and decisively take action. (We'll say a bit more about this below, in the Personal Statement section.
• Result : What was the result of your action? If you were facing a growth problem at work, were you able to increase sales? If so, by what percentage? If you were advocating for diversity and inclusion at your local charity, what new programs did you implement to help with that effort, and what was the enrollment like in those new programs? Detail what happened in your anecdote with as much specificity as possible — and quantify, quantify, quantify!

3. Get Vulnerable

Most MBA admissions essay prompts are written with the goal of getting to know as much about you as possible in the shortest number of words. To do that, you're going to have to share real things from your life — to get personal, intimate, and vulnerable. Do not shy away from this. If you're starting to get emotional during the reflection, drafting, and writing process, good — that means you're on the right track. Keep going. Pro tip: If it’s making you cry, it will make them cry. Another good rule of thumb is to put something real and true on the table. Admissions officers have to read literally thousands of applications from thoroughly qualified individuals, some of whom might come from similar roles to yours, with letters of recommendation from equally impressive supervisors. In order to cut through that noise, you'll have to share something honest. If you're doing it right, this can feel risky. At some point, you’ll likely think to yourself: “Can I say that?” The answer is: “Yes.” Of course, there is a line, you don’t want to be crass or offensive but err on the side of being open and authentic. The very worst thing you can do is be overly cautious, and write something you think will please the admissions committee. These poor people have to read thousands of essays. If yours is just like everyone else’s, they’ll fall asleep. Don’t let that happen. Wake them up by putting yourself —your true, bright, vibrant, quirky self—on the page.

4. Don't Exaggerate

Finally, do not exaggerate, over-inflate, or lie. This goes without saying, but admissions committees are looking for honest candidates. The surest way to get rejected is to lie about something. (Business schools do a background check on you before you're properly admitted, so they will find out.) Don't be the person who over-inflates on their essays, then has their offer letter rescinded.

The Types of MBA Essays

All right — since we've covered high-level approaches to the MBA essays, it's time to dig into the various types.

There are three general categories of MBA essays you'll see across the board.

1. Personal Statement

These questions ask you to offer up something sincere about yourself. They'll often touch on such things as your values and your character. In these, you'll want to be as authentic as possible, while also highlighting attributes like leadership, intellectual vitality, and teamwork, that business schools are looking for. Here are a few examples of personal statement essays:

• As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program? (HBS)
• What matters most to you, and why? (Stanford GSB)

2. Why an MBA/Why This School

The next category of essays is the "Why an MBA" / "Why This School" set.

In these, schools first want to hear about how an MBA will fit into your career, both short and long term. Top MBA programs are looking for candidates who will: first of all, be gainfully employed upon graduating, second of all, have an illustrious career that will make their institution look good and encourage future generations of applicants to apply, and third, be consistent and generous donors. That being the case, they want to know about your career trajectory, and how an MBA will fit into it.

Pro tip: Here, you want to be ambitious and inspiring in laying out your future career, but not naïve. Walk the line between shooting for the stars and sounding dreamlike and uninformed.

In this set of questions, you'll also encounter questions geared at figuring out why you would want to attend a specific school. MBA programs want to know that you're serious about attending their school — yield, or the percentage of admitted candidates who accept their offers of admission, is an important metric for them — but they also want to envision how you'll contribute to their admitted class. What will you uniquely bring to the table, the things that you'll do that the other candidates wouldn’t be able to offer?

We've heard former deans of business schools say that, in choosing a class, they're curating a world-class dinner party, and that each person invited to the dinner party has to bring something different. What will you bring to the dinner party?

Pro tip: To demonstrate that you've done your research, and to help the admissions committee envision you in their program, indicate which classes you might take when earning your MBA and why, which professors you might hope to study with, and in which clubs you might participate.

Here are a few examples of "why MBA / why this school" essays:

• How is a Columbia MBA going to help you? (Columbia)
• What do you hope to gain professionally from the Wharton MBA? (Wharton)
• Why Stanford? Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. (Stanford GSB)

3. Behavioral/Other

Finally, most other essays will either be behavioral, asking you about experiences, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and achievements. There's a wide variety of topics here, but all the guidelines from above apply, with the final note to always prioritize authenticity (as mentioned in the Personal Statement section) and leadership ability (remember, business schools are choosing future leaders). Here are a few examples of behavioral/other essays:

• Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. (Yale SOM)
• Tell us about your favorite book, movie, or song and why it resonates with you. (Columbia)
• 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? (Stanford GSB)

Top MBA Program Essay Prompts (Updated 2022)

To help you get started, we've compiled the required prompts from a few top MBA programs below:

1. Harvard Business School (HBS)

As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program? (900 words)

For more information, visit A Guide to the HBS Essay .

2. Stanford Graduate School of Business

What matters to you most, and why? (650 words)

Why Stanford? (400 words)

Read What Matters Most When Writing the GSB Essays.

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)

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)

For Wharton-specific advice, visit A Guide to the Wharton Essays .

4. Columbia Business School

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, in your imagination, would be your long-term dream job? (500 words)

Essay 2: The Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership (PPIL) is a new co-curricular program designed to ensure that every CBS student develops the skills to become an ethical and inclusive leader. Through PPIL, students attend programming focused on five essential diversity, equity, and inclusion skills: Creating an Inclusive Environment, Mitigating Bias, Communicating Across Identities, Addressing Systemic Inequity, and Managing Difficult Conversations. Tell us about a time you were challenged around one of these five skills. Describe the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome. (250 words)

Essay 3: We believe Columbia Business School is a special place. CBS proudly fosters a collaborative learning environment through curricular experiences like our clusters and learning teams , an extremely active co-curricular and student life environment, and career mentorship opportunities like our Executives-in-Residence program .Why do you feel Columbia Business School is a good fit for you academically, culturally, and professionally? Please be specific. (250 words)

5. Chicago Booth

How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250-word minimum)

An MBA is as much about personal growth as it is about professional development. In addition to sharing your experience and goals in terms of your career, we’d like to learn more about you outside of the office. Use this opportunity to tell us something about who you are… (250-word minimum)

Read more at A Guide to the Booth Essays .

6. Kellogg Northwestern

Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)

Values are what guide you in your life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)

Read How to Nail Your Kellogg MBA Application Essays

7. MIT Sloan

MIT Sloan seeks students whose personal characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of the incredible opportunities at MIT, both academic and non-academic. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students. We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world. We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. We want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas. We demand integrity, respect, and passion.

Taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and be addressed to the Admissions Committee (300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation)

Applicants are required to upload a 1 minute (60 seconds) video as part of their application. In your video, you should introduce yourself to your future classmates, tell us about your past experiences, and touch on why MIT Sloan is the best place for you to pursue your degree.

How to Start Your MBA Essay

So you've read about the types of essays, and seen some of the prompts from top MBA programs. Now it's time to actually start diving into the essay.

The very first thing to do, before putting pen to paper, is to look inward.

Why do  you want an MBA? What role will this degree play in your professional growth? How do you imagine it will shape your life? What do you want out of your career? What is the most important thing in the world to you?

Yes, these are life’s deep-end questions, but you’ll need to tackle them in these essays, so before you start writing, take the time to think through them. Go for a run, swim some laps, bake a cake—however you get into the flow — and start a dialogue with yourself. Put down your work, turn your phone off, and give your mind permission to go to the places it usually avoids. That’s a good place to start. That’s where the answers are.

Pro tip: The first sentence is the hardest one to write. When you're starting out if it can intimidating and anxiety-producing. The trick is to simply put  anything  down — and don't look back. Keep putting one sentence after the other. You can edit later: let whatever comes to you out onto the page. If you’re struggling with self-critique, dim your computer screen until you can’t even see the words you’re typing. Then keep going.

Additional Tips & Tricks

Once you've started your essay, it's a matter of persistence: keep writing, then keep drafting and editing until you have something you're really proud of.

To help you with that process, here are a few more tips and tricks:

• Take Breaks

When you hit the wall — you will hit the wall — stop. This is your brain telling you it needs to do something else. Walk your dog. Take a lap around your room. Eat some cheese. Your body needs sleep every night to function; your mind is the same way. That next leap of inspiration will come exactly at the moment when you’re least expecting it.

• Read it Out Loud

When you finally have a draft, print it and read it out loud to yourself. Your ear will catch things your eyes miss. Reading out loud is the best way to pick up on spelling errors, clunky transitions, and paragraphs that still need ironing out. It’s also a good way to envision how the admissions committee will experience your essay.

Don’t be precious with your essay. Send it to anyone willing to read it. Solicit as much feedback as you can. If you don’t like what people have to say, you don’t have to incorporate it, but you need an impartial third party to give notes on what they’re seeing, thinking, and feeling. (You’re too close to things to do it for yourself.) This is where a Leland coach comes very much in handy!

• Complete Everything Early

This is more of a timing consideration, but you do not want to trip at the finish line because your internet went down the night before the deadline, or your credit card was denied when paying your application fee (it's happened before). Don't let that be you!

Here is another article to get you started, written by an expert essays coach: 7 MBA Essay Tips to Make You Stand Out in 2022 .

Example MBA Essays

Finally, here are two essays to help inspire you. The first, a personal statement essay, was submitted by an admit to Berkeley Haas' Executive MBA program; the second, a career goals / why MBA essay, was submitted by an admit to Chicago Booth's deferred MBA program.

Haas Admit:

A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects, including family, culture, personal interests, and surrounding environments. Please share a facet of your identity or story that is essential to who you are. (300 words) My upbringing in India, filled with countless myths and legends, had a profound influence on me. The most formative tale was about a sage who prays for years to the goddess of knowledge, but in vain. In the end, the goddess didn’t appear for the sage because he was turning his prayer beads the wrong way! As a child, this story upset me: the sage worked so hard and had the right intentions. As an adult, though, I’ve come to realize that the goddess of knowledge was right: you can’t succeed unless you do things the right way. Seven years ago, two friends and I started a company, XXXX: a digital health platform that would allow patients to store medical records online and consult doctors remotely. We had early success—we brought on 2,000 patients at XXXX, a gynecology clinic in XXXX—but ultimately we didn’t have the resources to properly scale, and had to shut the company down. Among the many lessons I learned, the most valuable was that ideas and hard work are common; businesses succeed or fail based on execution—on doing things the right way. Two years ago, I relearned this lesson in the most painful way possible: when my marriage ended. My wife and I loved each other, but we weren’t there for each other when it mattered most. Our feelings weren’t enough—we had to back them up with the right actions. It’s disheartening when you have good intentions but still fall short. When this happens, though, you have to keep trying—because eventually you will do things the right way. I carry the story of the sage with me always, not as a harsh lesson, but as a motivating goal: one that keeps me striving towards doing things the right way.

Booth Admit:

How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 word minimum)

I want to start a geothermal company that will help lead the energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy—by targeting existing oil wells as sites for geothermal plants. Oil fields are close to electric grids and have high nearby subsurface temperatures, making them ideal sites for geothermal plants. By building geothermal infrastructure nearby, my company will produce cleaner, cheaper energy, making it more profitable for operators to switch from oil to geothermal. As oil companies decommission their wells, I’ll negotiate for their land rights, so I can use their existing wells for new geothermal vents. I want my company to prove the case for economically viable, carbon neutral energy production. After getting an MBA I want to start a geothermal company which will help me lead the energy transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. I plan to target developed oil fields in Texas, where, in many places, producing wells are flowing enough hot fluid to generate clean energy. Using this geothermal heat, the carbon footprint of oil and gas extraction will decrease as fewer fossil fuels are utilized to power surrounding infrastructure. As the wells approach their economic life, I will negotiate the lease from various operators, saving them millions in plug and abandonment costs, and retrofit the wells for direct geothermal energy production via closed loop binary fluid systems, bringing emissions to zero. To accomplish this goal, I need to shore up my knowledge of energy economics and entrepreneurial finance, develop a strong sense of leadership, and build a network of like minded individuals that will help me lead the transition and I believe I can get those things at Chicago Booth. My immediate career goal is to develop my first co-production site in Shelby County, Texas at the Blanton well site, which produces abnormally heated fluid from the flanks of an active salt dome. Before investing in capital expenditures, developing a strong sense of energy economics and broader markets is necessary to verify financial feasibility. University of Chicago, through the Graduate-Student-At-Large: Business program, is already allowing me to accomplish this goal with my enrollment in “Microeconomics” with Professor Andrew McClellan. His instruction helped me understand the impact taxes and subsidies have on market equilibrium, an important aspect of renewable energy as green energy tax incentives continue to change on a yearly basis. As my company continues to grow, having a strong finance and accounting foundation is imperative to building and sustaining a healthy company. Electives such as “Accounting for Entrepreneurship: From Start-Up through IPO” will provide the skills I need to be successful by following the life-cycle of a business that originates as a start-up, and covers topics such as building an initial accounting infrastructure. I understand that execution of the business is as important as developing the idea and proof of concept, and Booth is the best place for me to develop financial fluency. Leading the energy transition will require a strong sense of leadership. Not only will I need to lead those I get to work with over my career, but to lead the energy transition, and reverse the impact fossil fuels have had thus far, I must have the emotional intelligence to inspire others to join me in my journey. The “Interpersonal Dynamics” course at Booth will allow me to develop my communication skills and better understand the emotions and perceptions of my colleagues. These skills, synthesized with leadership development acquired in “Leadership Practicum” will prepare me to act as a relational leader, who understands the needs of others. As a relational leader I hope to foster an environment which promotes happiness, and maximizes efficiency, not only to make our efforts in changing the world more successful, but to excite other people to join our cause.

To find the greatest chance of success in leading the energy transition, I will need a network of like-minded individuals who can provide a diversity of thought. Chicago Booth provides the opportunity to develop that network through different community experiences. The Energy Club’s “Energy Forward” conference, which designates time to topics in oil and gas and renewable energy will allow me to hear from industry leaders, build meaningful relationships with peers and contribute my sector experience to the public forum as I learn from those around me. Opportunities through the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Group such as “SeedCon” will help me connect with successful entrepreneurs and early-stage investors whose ideas and funding might change the course of my venture’s trajectory. Even in the GSALB program I have had the opportunity to connect with other students in various sectors, including the energy industry. I hope to continue to strengthen those connections and continue building new ones with matriculation into the full time program.

Here are several other articles that you may find helpful as you put together your MBA application:

• The Most Frequently Asked Questions on MBA Applications
• How to Answer the "Why an MBA?" Essay Question
• My Top Piece of Advice for MBA Applicants
• How I Nailed My MBA Interview and Gained Admission to Top 10 Business Schools
• 4 Expert Tips on Paying for Business School

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How to write powerful MBA essays that actually work

Candidates often wonder what it takes to write strong MBA essays that work. It can be a scary and confusing process. Let’s try to figure out a step-by-step process to write a great MBA essay.

For many of us, writing an essay brings back memories of a hot, stuffy classroom on a sleepy summer afternoon, a strict English teacher keeping watch with hawk-like eyes, a mostly blank sheet of paper with the words “My Best Friend” written on top.

And in the middle of it all, you looking desperately at your friend seated next to you, hoping for some inspiration to strike. Or at the very least, for the school bell to strike, lest the English teacher see your as-yet blank sheet of paper and strike first.

In other words, you think of essays as boring. Perhaps even traumatizing, depending on how strict your English teacher was, and how inspiring your best friend was.

We’re here to tell you that that’s not what an essay should be.

An essay should be educating, entertaining, inspiring, thrilling, humorous, and heartbreaking.

Basically, anything but boring.

So if you’re writing boring essays, or if you think essays are boring, you’re doing them wrong.

What is the purpose of writing an MBA essay?

Everybody has seen The Wolf of Wall Street . Remember that famous scene where Leonardo di Caprio pulls out a pen from his coat pocket and tries to sell it to a spellbound, captivated audience hanging on to every word of his?

That’s how an essay should be.

Instead of the pen, you’re trying to sell your story. Your audience is the MBA admissions committee of your dream B-school, and at stake is your MBA dream.

But first, a word of caution – channelling your inner wolf of Wall Street does not mean that you throw form and formality to the wind. This is a B-school, and you’re still expected to wear a suit and tie.

An essay could be like a piece of classical music with multiple layers that merge seeamlessly. Or it could be like hip-hop with a catchy vibe and an impactful message.

But if you can demonstrate that you possess an aesthetic palette eclectic enough to accommodate both Beethoven and Busta Rhymes, that is impressive.

If however, you’re more of a Bollywood and Bhangra person with no appreciation or flair for classical music or hip-hop, you can still write a rocking MBA essay.

The point being, there’s no formula to create successful MBA essays. But you can still improve your odds of creating an essay that you’re proud of, if you follow these simple tips.

Here are 6 steps to writing an impressive MBA essay.

• Start early
• Understand the MBA essay prompts
• Demonstrate your fit with the MBA program
• Stick to the word count
• Add a little X factor to it
• Get someone to look over your essay

Let’s delve into each of them to understand the finer nuances.

How to write powerful MBA essays

1. start early.

Writing takes time. A slow cooked dish brings out the flavors of the food being cooked by allowing the spices to percolate, the aromas to emerge, and the textures to develop.

It’s the same with writing.

You need to let the thoughts in your head marinate on low simmer for days for them to develop into well-formed sentences that will delight your reader. Even if you think you’ve got it all sorted out in your head, putting it on paper is a different challenge altogether.

You’ll need a few days of contemplation to come up with points you want to put in. Jot these down as they strike you. Next, brainstorm with friends, foes, family – anyone willing to provide feedback, and whose judgement you trust.

Next, organize your ideas in a structured framework. What this means, in plain English, is that you need to be able to weave your ideas into a story your readers would love.

No, you don’t need a degree in creative writing to be able to do that.

It’s actually pretty simple. Every story has 3 parts – a beginning, a middle, and an end. In theater and film-making jargon, this is called the 3-act structure.

Act 1 is the set-up.

This is where we get to meet the protagonist (you!), and what is called the “inciting incident”, which is something that incites our protagonist into action. ( the need to do an MBA/ get into your dream B-school)

At this point, the stage is set for an exciting journey. The reader is now expecting an adventure of Tolkien-esque proportions. ( we’re kidding, this is an MBA application, not the Lord of the Rings)

Act 2 is the conflict

This is where our protagonist runs into challenges and obstacles. Their attempt to overcome these is the beating heart of the story. It’s the action that the reader started reading the story for, in the first place.

In your MBA essay, this is where you explain why you want to do an MBA, and why specifically from the B-school you are applying to, and how this will help you in achieving your career goals.

Act 3 is the resolution

This is the happy ending of the story. This is where you tie all the lose ends together, and the reader realizes that the protagonist has been transformed by the quest.

Remember that the journey from act 1 to act 3 is not any series of random actions strung together – it needs to be transformative. At the end of the story both the protagonist and the reader of the story get a sense of a change that has happened.

In the case of MBA essay, what this means is that your essay should convey a clear sense of how the MBA (and only this particular MBA from this particular school) will help you overcome the challenges you foresee in your career, and will thus be transformative.

Also keep in mind, that while it is important for your essay to be engaging, this does not mean by any stretch of imagination, that you invent incidents merely to spice things up. Always state facts and facts only.

Remember, facts are stranger than fiction, and the simplest stories are the most beautiful The novelist John Updike once said that the purpose of art is to give the mundane its beautiful due.

Any story can be made beautiful and exciting with the 3-step act. The journey of the caterpillar from egg to butterfly is a classic 3-step act.

There is no need to go chasing fantastic beasts and inventing imaginary islands; all the magic ingredients you need to write that rockstar MBA essay are already within you in the form of your own unique and wonderful life journey. Let the world hear it.

In the interest of time, some applicants may be tempted to use ChatGPT to write their MBA essays. Find out what should and shouldn’t be done if you are planning to use it, here .

2. Understand the MBA essay prompts

Most things in life come with user manuals. It’s the same with B-school essays.

Your school will usually provide instructions of what kind of essays they want, and what they are looking for in an essay. Make sure you follow these instructions to a T.

For instance, some B-schools might want one long essay, while others might want two to three shorter essays.

Often the essay would come with a question, or an essay statement, such as “state your short-term and long-term career goals, or “why do you want to pursue an MBA at this particular stage in your career”, and so on.

Pay close attention to what is being asked as what you write will depend on the question.

Unfortunately, most of us have a habit of tossing the user manual into trash unopened, and then call customer care when we can’t figure out how to operate the washing machine. Let this not be the case with your MBA essay.

Here’s an introduction to the most commonly used MBA essay questions

Why MBA now? MBA Essay question: Why this school? Long-term and short-term career goals essay Leadership in MBA essays Optional MBA essays – Career failure essay – career break , education gap, low GPA or any other aspects.

3. Demonstrate your fit with the MBA program

This is an exercise you need to perform as much for your own benefit, as for the admission committee’s. First and foremost, convince yourself that the particular MBA program is exactly what you need to meet your career goals.

Because MBAs are expensive, and confirmation bias is real.

Just because someone put it into our heads when we were 16 that xyz is a great B-school, it is entirely possible that we will psych ourselves into believing that this school is the perfect fit for us, even if it is not.

Then, at the other end of the spectrum are the cases where we just want to get into any B-school at all, and never really give a good thought into why we want to do an MBA.

If you’ve got USD 150,000 lying around the house, and all you want is to make more money, you’d be better off opening a post office savings account and living off the 7.5% interest you get on it.

An MBA is a different beast. It’ll take from you not just your money, but also two years off the prime of your life, a lot of energy (read pulling off all-nighters trying to crack case studies and making presentations), and time spent away from your loved ones.

If you’re going to be investing all this into an MBA, you need to be very sure of two things – why you want to do an MBA, and why you want to do it from the particular school you are applying to.

Once you have it all figured out, put it down in your MBA application. Remember, if you’re not convinced yourself, you will most certainly not be able to convince the admissions committee either.

Our MBA MAP process is a helpful tool used by many applicants to select the right business schools.

Read this: – How to write business school specific MBA essays – How to evaluate ‘Fit’ with MBA program

4. Stick to the word count

There’s an old bit of Jewish wisdom which says that a proverb has 3 characteristics – few words, good sense, and a fine image.

While the adage may be about proverbs, it is the hallmark of all good writing.

There’s a reason people remember proverbs but forget stories. Proverbs speak to us less with words, and more with sense and images.

Word counts exist for a reason. One of which, of course, is that admissions committees have to wade through a ton of applications, and their time is limited.

But, equally importantly, a word count tests your ability to communicate ideas effectively. If you can’t get your message across in a 1000 words, you definitely will not get it across in 10,000.

And a good manager is nothing if not a good communicator. So take the word count of your essay as another test that you must pass on your way to your dream B-school.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you obsessively start counting words after every sentence you type. A margin of (+/-) 5% to 10% is acceptable in most cases.

But even if the b-school’s online application form does not enforce a hard cut-off, we’d recommend erring on the conservative side and staying below the word count.

Try to fit in all you need to say within this. You really don’t need anything more than that to tell your story. You’re writing an essay, not an autobiography.

Oscar Wilde famously said that brevity is the soul of wit, and we have since come to accept that brevity is pretty much the soul of most forms of communication, MBA essays included. Be frugal with your words and fathomless in your meaning.

Read: How important is the word count for MBA essays

5. Add a little X factor to it

This one is a little difficult to pin down, since what this X factor means will differ from one candidate to another.

That little magic dust that you sprinkle on your application to make it stand out from the crowd.

This become more important when you’re fighting in very competitive applicant pools and your resume doesn’t have much that automatically grabs the admission officer’s attention.

Here are some examples of what you can look at.

A small aspect of your life-story that you may have overlooked could provide that X factor that converts a regular story into a memorable masterpiece.

Or it could be related to your extracurricular activities where you achieved or experienced something remarkable.

Or it could be your unique writing style, or the way you use analogies to bring your ideas to life.

With the right, structured introspection, you’ll find that there are several avenues to highlight that makes the essays unmistakably reflect the real you.

This is one of the reasons we strongly discourage MBA applicants from using sample MBA essays that worked for others.

At first glance, they may look impressive to a new applicant, but they weren’t designed for recycling.

Using sample MBA essays will kill the uniqueness of your essays and consequently the crucial X factor.

Read why sample MBA essays don’t work .

Before we share our 6th and final tip, let’s first delve a little into the reasons we kept it for the end.

Despite their best efforts, even the strongest applicants tend to make mistakes in their application. We invited a special guest from a top school to list them down.

Top 5 mistakes to avoid while writing MBA essays

By rebecca loades, director, career accelerator programs, esmt berlin.

Unfortunately, the following 5 mistakes are all too common:

• Not being authentic . No matter how qualified you may be on paper, authenticity counts. The biggest mistake we see is when applicants tell us what they think we want to hear, rather than showing us who they actually are.
• Not answering the question or going beyond the word count . There’s a reason we ask the questions we do and limit the word count. Ignoring the prompt makes you stand out for the wrong reasons
• Not trying . You might have stellar credentials and a super high test score but that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a place. Being successful in an MBA program requires more than pure academics. The essays are where you can help us see beyond your CV so that we get a sense of you, the unique perspective you will bring, and what you want to achieve.
• Spelling and grammar errors . Spellcheck is there for a reason, use it! Ditto for making sure that you’ve spelled the school’s name properly and/or are calling us by our name vs the last business school you applied to.

  With that context, it becomes apparent why this final tip is so important.  

6. Get someone to look over your essay

Once you’re done writing, take a break and get some one you trust to have a look at your essay.

Having a fresh set of eyes go over your writing is always helpful. This is the reason why editors even exist.

Even the most gifted writers – the madcap literary geniuses and the Nobel Prize winners – relied on editors to polish their rough drafts into the enduring literary classics we know them as today.

The thing with writing is that when you’ve been living with the ideas in your head for so long, and then you begin the long, slow, painful process of putting those ideas on paper, you become just too familiar with them to be your own critic.

Those words have been a part of you for so long, you can no longer tell whether they’re good or bad.

It’s like how when we stare at a screen too long without blinking we begin to see the fine pixels and dots that make up the picture, but lose sight of the picture itself?

That sort of a thing.

A good editor can make that draft shine like a lapidary polishes a rough diamond to brilliance.

A “good editor” does not mean you need to get in touch with the New York Times to ask if they can loan out their literary editor for a day.

Here’s a candidate who got a USA MBA admit despite a big mistake in application .

A friend or a mentor with the experience and knowledge of the admissions process can help.

If you don’t have anyone like that in your life, and if all this sounds a little overwhelming, consider hiring a good MBA application consultant .

MBA Crystal Ball has highly experienced admission consultants who can help you polish your application. Read more about our MBA essay editing services .

Drop us an email when you’re ready: info [at] mbacrystalball [dot] com

That’s all folks. Make sure you follow these steps, and we’re confident that you will be able to write an amazing MBA essay that with the potential to impress the admissions committee and to get you that elite MBA seat that could change your life.   Also read: – Top MBA application tips – Sample Harvard Stanford MBA essays using ChatGPT

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7 tips for writing a winning mba application essay.

Nervous about your MBA admissions essay? You’re not alone! Many applicants wonder how to put their best foot forward in a business school entrance essay.

In this article, I’ll tell you what admissions committees look for in application essays and offer MBA essay tips on how to make yours stand out. We’ll also take a look at the different kinds of business school essays and a few examples of MBA essay prompts.

Why Do Business Schools Ask for Essays? What Do They Look For?

Business schools ask for essays for several reasons, all of which help admissions committees determine whether you have the skills and traits to succeed in an MBA program.

First, MBA admissions committees want to see how you write. Communication skills—including concision, clarity, style, and fluency in English—will be essential to your success in business school. One way of discerning your level of writing ability is to require an original writing sample. In an MBA essay, you have to get your point across straightforwardly, elegantly, and concisely; being able to do this is a key element of succeeding in business school and the world of business in general.

Also, MBA admissions committees want to get a sense of who you are on a more personal level. MBA application essays tell admissions officials about you not only through what you say, but in how you say it. Are you self-aware, for example, and can you reflect on past challenges or mistakes in a thoughtful way? Do you demonstrate insight into who you are and your goals? How you answer questions about yourself, your career, and your journey can help MBA admissions officials discern your level of critical thinking and personal insight.

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You can have countless accomplishments, but to succeed in business school, you’ll also need to fit in with the campus climate, work well with your peers, and contribute to campus diversity in a meaningful way. The MBA essay is a place for you to talk about the background or experiences you have that are unique to you and that you believe could differentiate you from your colleagues and/or provide a fresh perspective to campus.

Finally, essays are a way for you to showcase the qualities that most MBA programs say they are looking for in applicants, such as leadership skills, community involvement, problem-solving skills, communication skills, clear goals, and a strong sense of ethics. Some of these traits might not be readily apparent from a resume alone, and an MBA essay can be a place for you to elaborate on how you’ve cultivated them in yourself.

MBA Entrance Essay Sample Prompts

Most MBA entrance essays ask you about one of several things. Many of them are variations on similar questions: the open-ended question, the leadership question, the personal growth question, questions on short- and long-term academic and career goals, and the diversity question. For each one, I’ll give an example of a real MBA essay prompt from 2016 or 2017.

#1: Open-Ended

The open-ended MBA application essay question is just that: open. It allows you to tell your own story, giving you quite a bit of freedom but also little to no guidance. For that reason, many applicants find it to be the most challenging MBA essay prompt.

Harvard Business School has only one essay for its MBA application, and it’s the quintessential open-ended MBA essay question. This is the prompt for 2017-2018 applicants.

As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program?

Note that, as in other open-ended MBA admission essay prompts, this question asks you to decide what you’ll write about. Successful Harvard applicants and HBS admissions counselors have advised applicants to use the prompt as a chance to demonstrate their past use of an especially desired trait, such as problem-solving skills. For example, many successful applicants use the prompt to describe a scenario in which they faced and overcame a challenge, especially as a leader or alongside a team.

Notably, Harvard also doesn’t list a word limit, so you can decide the appropriate length for your essay. However, most admissions counselors will advise you to keep it concise and straightforward.

#2: Leadership

Another common MBA essay prompt asks you to demonstrate your experience and skills as a leader. Leadership qualities are listed by nearly all MBA admissions counselors as fundamental to a career in business and, thus, to a successful business school application.

Let’s look at a sample leadership MBA essay prompt from Kellogg.

Leadership and teamwork are integral parts of the Kellogg experience. Describe a recent and meaningful time you were a leader. What challenges did you face, and what did you learn? (450 words)

In a response to this kind of prompt, you should be as specific as possible. Name the company you were working for or specifically describe the project you were heading. Who was on your team? What were your objectives? Did you meet them? How could you have done so more effectively?

While you shouldn’t be overly self-deprecating, don’t be afraid to address the challenges you met and how you overcame them (or would overcome them now, with more experience and knowledge). Remember that one important aspect of leadership is accountability, so if there were problems, don’t solely blame your team for them. Instead, reflect on how you successfully worked with your team to solve the problems, and/or on how you could have done so more effectively or efficiently.

#3: Personal Growth

The personal growth MBA admission essay prompt will ask you how you’ve changed in the past and how you want to grow in the future. Here’s one example from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

Pursuing an MBA is a catalyst for personal and professional growth. How have you grown in the past? How do you intend to grow at Kellogg? (450 words)

Don’t be afraid to get a bit personal with these kinds of prompts . They’re meant to gauge something about your personality and who you are, rather than only what you’ve done.

Many successful MBA admission essays that respond to these kinds of questions follow a past/present/future format. Ask yourself what traits you’ve gathered over the years that have benefited you personally and professionally, how you’ve improved, and what you’ve learned. What experiences have shaped you? Be as specific as possible.

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Then, take stock of yourself now: your career, your education, and where you see yourself in the future. What do you need in order to get there?

Finally, most essay MBA prompts in this vein (like Kellogg’s) will ask you how they can help you move towards that personal or professional goal. Be as specific as you can, focusing on the particular strengths of the prospective MBA program and how they match up with what you want to improve about yourself as a person, colleague, and leader.

#4: Your Plan

Some MBA application essay prompts will ask you about your career goals and how attendance at a particular business school will help you to achieve them. Let’s look at one from the USC Marshall School of Business.

Essay #1 (Required) – What is your specific, immediate short-term career goal upon completion of your MBA? Please include an intended position, function, and industry in your response. (word limit: 100)

As you can see, questions like these often request brief responses. So get straight to the point, and give details. Name a specific job you’d like to hold, what you’d like to do there, and even particular companies if you can.

Questions like this one will require some research. Research alumni from your prospective business school who’ve ended up in positions comparable to ones you’d like to hold in the future, particular companies and positions that match up with your personal and professional goals, and specific coursework or industry experiences offered by your prospective business school that would help you get there.

#5: Diversity, Culture, and Community

Finally, some MBA essay prompts will ask you how your unique background and experiences would contribute to the overall diversity and collegial atmosphere of a school’s campus climate and community. Here’s one example from USC.

Essay #2 (Required) – At Marshall, we take pride in the fact that our students work collaboratively, both inside and outside the classroom, to create a culture, a community, and an environment that truly defines what we call the Trojan Family. Please describe the contributions you expect to make to your classmates during your time at USC. How will they benefit from your presence in the program? (word limit: 500)

You can respond to questions like this, depending on the wording of the original prompt, by discussing your cultural background, identity, and/or personal experiences that have given you particular insight into a given community or that have lent you a unique perspective that could be valuable to your colleagues as you collaborate.

You can also discuss past community service projects or issues you’re passionate about and how you plan to carry those experiences and passions into your work at your prospective MBA program.

7 MBA Essay Tips

Writing MBA essays takes a particular skill set. Let’s go over the top seven MBA essay tips for making your application essay shine.

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#1: Write Early and Often

Even though MBA entrance essays are brief, they take a lot of polishing. Writing MBA essays takes time.

Don’t expect to write yours at the last minute or knock out a quality essay in a day. Most students need several drafts to make sure they’re getting their points across as elegantly and clearly as possible.

Start your essay well before the application deadline, when you don’t yet feel any pressure. For several weeks, don’t try to write at all. Instead, before crafting your essay for MBA admission, take notes on your past, present, and future. What have you learned? What unique experiences have you had? What have been the most meaningful projects you’ve undertaken? Ask friends, family, and mentors to tell you what they value most about you or what they see as your greatest personal and professional assets.

Only once you’ve gathered this material should you begin your first draft of your MBA application essay. Start with an outline for each one that includes the story you want to tell and the main points you want to get across.

Once you have a clear outline, you can start drafting. Taking the writing process seriously from start to finish will give you a much better product in the end than trying to write something hastily right before the deadline.

#2: Show, Don’t Tell

MBA admissions committees want to be able to tell that you have the qualities that are necessary to succeed in business school, such as leadership skills and integrity.

Your MBA admissions essay can be a great place to showcase those qualities. However, remember to show, not tell. Saying “I have strong leadership skills” doesn’t tell an admissions committee much. Through an anecdote about, say, meeting a difficult deadline or overcoming an obstacle, a reader should be able to tell that you have the qualities of a strong leader without your having to say so explicitly.

#3: Research Your Goals

When describing your future goals, be as specific as possible. Business schools know that your goals may change in the future, but stating specific goals now will show that you’ve done your research and have an idea of what you want and how an MBA program can help you get there.

Before writing your essay for MBA admission, research the ins and outs of the industry you want to enter, the position you’d like to have, companies you might like to work for, and coursework and internships or fieldwork that could aid you on your way to those goals.

#4: Keep It Concise

Never, ever go over a stated word count limit when you’re writing your essay for MBA admission. It might be tempting, but business schools want to see that you can get your point across concisely and straightforwardly.This rule goes for MBA essay prompts that don’t have specific word counts, too: sometimes, less is more.

One of the biggest mistakes applicants make in writing an essay for MBA admission is to use too much flowery language to come across as more professional. If you do this, it can be distracting and cause the admissions committee to miss the main points you’re making.

Bottom line, trim anything extraneous from your essay —that is, anything that doesn’t actively support the main point(s) you’re trying to get across.

#5: Show Self-Awareness

It might feel tempting to use the MBA admission essay as a space to list all of your accomplishments (and since your resume is already part of your application, this is unnecessary), but MBA admissions committees would rather see that you have insight into both your strengths and weaknesses. No one is perfect, and in your essay for MBA admission, you shouldn’t try to come across as if you’ve never made a mistake or faced a challenge that you’ve had to learn from.

Also, in business school and the business world at large, bouncing back from failures, being flexible, and problem solving are all essential skills. All of them require a thick skin and awareness of what you could do better.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t showcase your achievements, but if you’re asked about personal growth or an obstacle you’ve overcome, be clear about what you could have done more effectively in the past (at a job or in your education, for example) and the steps you’ve taken or will take to sidestep that mistake in the future.

#6: Share Your Personal Journey

Many applicants would prefer to focus only on their professional backgrounds and goals in their MBA essays, but you shouldn’t be afraid to get personal in your essay. You don’t need to tell your whole life story, but especially in response to questions that ask about your growth over time, you should showcase your personality and give the admissions committee an idea of your personal background and experiences.

#7: Ask for Edits

It might seem obvious, but many applicants don’t do it: proofread your work! When writing MBA essays, revision is key. Turning in an MBA essay with typos and other errors will come off as thoughtless and unprofessional.

You should also get a second (and, perhaps, a third and fourth) pair of eyes on your essay to make sure it’s coming across as you want it to. Going through several rounds of drafts is a necessary part of the writing process to ensure that you’re putting your best foot forward in your MBA entrance essay.

What’s Next?

Worried about how your GMAT score matches up to other applicants’? Find out more in our list of average GMAT scores by school.

Concerned about your chances of getting into an MBA program? Our guide to business school acceptance rates will help.

Ready to apply to business school? Check out our top eight tips for applying to MBA programs here.

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Author: Laura Dorwart

Laura Dorwart is a Ph.D. student at UC San Diego. She has taught and tutored hundreds of students in standardized testing, literature, and writing. View all posts by Laura Dorwart

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How to write a compelling scholarship essay

You’ve made the decision that you’re going to business school and found you’re eligible for a scholarship. Next up–how do I actually write a compelling scholarship essay? Transmitting your achievement, inspirations, and not to mention that je nais se quoi –French for a uniquely distinctive and attractive quality–into paper can seem daunting. However, once you know the rules of the game, this can be easily tackled.

Originality will always be the key to what sets you apart from other applicants. But the first thing you’ll need in order to be awarded financial support is to understand the scholarship criteria and themes. Is there a specific topic to talk about? Are there particular traits you can draw from the school’s ethos? Is there an exact number of words to fulfill? And crucially–when are the deadlines?

After you’ve taken some time to absorb the above, you’ll naturally start developing a plan of attack for your scholarship essay. When you’re ready to start writing, a good structure will help you strengthen your case of why you should be awarded the scholarship.

To write a compelling scholarship essay, the structure you should follow is:

1. Stick to a subject that fits your profile:

Depending on the school that you’re applying to, you are usually able to work on either an open subject scholarship essay or nominated profile that fits with the school’s “DNA”.

The following scholarships and awards are available to undergraduate applicants:

Global Generation Scholarship:  

For applicants who bring a unique global perspective to our school community through their international experiences or multilingualism.

Entrepreneurial Impact Scholarship:

For budding candidates who have a true entrepreneurial spirit and put ideas into action.

Growth Mindset Scholarship :

For forward-thinking individuals that demonstrate a growth mindset, personal development, and achievement in the face of adversity.

Future Leader Scholarship :

For aspiring business leaders who have the desire and potential to achieve significant success as future leaders in any industry.

Technology & Innovation Scholarship :

For creative applicants who have a strong desire to learn about the technology and innovative ideas that will shape tomorrow’s world.

DECA Scholarship :

For DECA member students from around the world who are emerging as the next generation of entrepreneurial business leaders.

The Social Impact Award :

For socially conscious individuals who have a strong passion for social entrepreneurship and have demonstrated the ability to implement solutions to benefit society.

Visionary Women Award :

For female students who have outstanding drive, talent, and vision.

Academic Excellence Award:

Exceptionally strong candidates will be automatically selected for this award based on their pre-undergraduate results.

The following scholarships are available to graduate applicants:

Social Impact:

For applicants who have had and will have a positive impact in making the world a better place.

Academic Excellence:

For candidates that have excelled in their studies, earning an outstanding GPA.

Global Professional:

For aspiring business leaders who have worked full time for a minimum of one year in a large global corporation.

Entrepreneurial Impact:

For professionals that have had an internship or volunteering experience and have demonstrated involvement, leadership, or had a role in the outcome of an entrepreneurial project.

Women in Business:

For female applicants who have work or internship experience or have led a team in an international environment.

Future Leader (masters only):

For students who have demonstrated enthusiasm and a natural aptitude to lead.

Senior Leader (MBA and Executive MBA only) :

For students who have demonstrated leadership of high-performing teams in an international arena.

2. Organize your examples: Find linkages

Hult’s scholarship essay requires you to point out examples of how you link to the subject or embody the attributes of the profile you chose. It could be referring to work experiences and talking about a particular role, academic achievements, or extra-curricular activities and projects.

Once having the above details, you need to keep in mind that you have a word limit, otherwise the application will be rejected. So be sure to pick the best of!

3. Know your audience: Be human

Before you type a single word, remember that the Admissions Committee takes time to read each one of the applications received in order to make their decision. Be humble and personable, and adding authentic gratitude to the reader, is a good way of acknowledging your audience.

4. Plan an essay structure: Introduce your story, a body of examples, and reinforce

For any essay, a clear structure is vital. It will ensure your thoughts have an organized flow and allows readers to follow your story. Start by engaging the Committee with your story–who you are and your journey–then develop the body with any examples of challenges and obstacles you encountered. Don’t forget to include what you learned from the experience or how you persevered, and most importantly how this shows your eligibility.

5. Are you a Hult fit?

The Admissions Committee is looking for a specific candidate. Again, be sure you know what that is and constantly reinforce throughout your essay how that candidate is you. At Hult, we look for students who are bold, have a global mindset and entrepreneurial spirit, and seek to challenge the status quo. So, what are you bringing to the classroom? What about your challenges and experiences makes you different? What are your ambitions and how will a Hult degree help you get there?

6. Close strongly

The closing is the reinforcement of why this all matters. Bring your story together and emphasize key points in the essay. They’re your final words so talk from the heart and be honest about your needs.

7. Review it and ask someone to proof

Don’t let spelling mistakes get in the way of a strong scholarship essay. Ensure it reads well. Review your essay and read it out loud so you can feel the flow of your words. Finally, do a test run and ask a teacher, colleague, or family member to proofread and give feedback.

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20 Must-Read MBA Essay Tips

Business school admissions committees care about more than (just) your  GMAT scores and GPA —they want to know who you are and why you belong in their program . Your MBA essays are your best chance to sell the person behind the résumé. They should tie all the pieces of your business school application together and create a comprehensive picture of who you are, what you've done, and what you bring to the table.  Here's a roundup of our best MBA essay tips to keep in mind as you begin to write.

How to Write an Unforgettable B-School Essay

1. communicate that you are a proactive, can-do sort of person..

Business schools want leaders, not applicants content with following the herd.

2. Put yourself on ego-alert.

Stress what makes you unique, not what makes you number one.

3. Communicate specific reasons why you're great fit for each school.

Simply stating "I am the ideal candidate for your program" won't convince the admission committee to push you into the admit pile.

Read More: Find Your Business School

4. Bring passion to your writing.

Admissions officers want to know what excites you. And if you'll bring a similar enthusiasm to the classroom.

5. Break the mold.

Challenge perceptions with unexpected essays that say, "There's more to me than you think."

6. If you've taken an unorthodox path to business school, play it up.

Admissions officers appreciate risk-takers.

7. Talk about your gender, ethnicity, minority status or foreign background....

But only if it has affected your outlook or experiences.

8. Fill your essays with plenty of real-life examples.

Specific anecdotes and vivid details make a much greater impact than general claims and broad summaries.

9. Demonstrate a sense of humor or vulnerability.

You're a real person, and it's okay to show it!

BONUS: Don't Make These MBA Essay Mistakes

1. write about your high school glory days. .

Admissions committees don't care if you were editor of the yearbook or captain of the varsity team. They expect their candidates to have moved onto more current, professional achievements.

2. Submit essays that don't answer the questions.

An off-topic essay, or one that merely restates your résumé, will frustrate and bore the admissions committee. More importantly, it won't lead to any new insight about you.

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3. Fill essays with industry jargon.

Construct your essays with only enough detail about your job to frame your story and make your point.

4. Reveal half-baked reasons for wanting the MBA.

Admissions officers favor applicants who have well-defined goals. However unsure you are about your future, it's critical that you demonstrate that you have a plan.

5. Exceed the recommended word limits.

This suggests you don't know how to follow directions, operate within constraints or organize your thoughts.

6. Submit an application full of typos and grammatical errors.

A sloppy application suggests a sloppy attitude.

7. Send one school an essay intended for another—or forget to change the school name when using the same essay for several applications.

Admissions committees are (understandably) insulted when they see another school's name or forms.

8. Make excuses.

If your undergraduate experience was one long party, be honest. Discuss how you've matured, both personally and professionally.

9. Be impersonal in the personal statement.

Many applicants avoid the personal like the plague. Instead of talking about how putting themselves through school lowered their GPA, they talk about the rising cost of tuition in America. Admissions officers want to know about YOU.

Read More: How to Ace Your MBA Interview

10. Make too many generalizations.

An essay full of generalizations is a giveaway that you don't have anything to say.

11. Write in a vacuum.

Make sure that each of your essays reinforce and build on the others to present a consistent and compelling representation of who you are, what you've done, and what you bring to the table.

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How To Write A Winning Scholarship Essay (with example)

Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.

Scholarship essays are an inevitable part of most scholarship applications. Sadly, many qualified students see an essay requirement, think, “I’m not a good writer,” and decide not to apply. Don’t fall into that trap! Learn how to write a winning scholarship essay today!

As a former writing instructor, I know firsthand that anyone can write a winning scholarship essay if they devote the time and effort. Follow the steps below to write an excellent scholarship essay and dramatically increase your chances of winning scholarships!

Take your time

For most people, it’s not possible to write a stellar essay ten minutes before the application deadline. We recommend giving yourself a few hours to write the first draft of your scholarship essay. Ask a friend to read it over or just take some time away, then take another hour to proofread your essay, ideally the next day.

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Start with structure.

Remember, the reader is not in your head. A solid essay structure is needed to convey your ideas effectively. Before you begin writing:

Create an outline to map out your idea

Clear topic sentences

Plan for multiple paragraphs, with each paragraph headed by a clear topic sentence for that paragraph’s main point

Transition!

Use a transitional sentence or phrase at the end of each paragraph to connect one idea to the next

Answer the prompt

Nothing will set you back like not responding to the prompt provided. It screams “this person didn’t bother to fully read the directions,” or worse, “this person doesn’t care about what we are asking.”

Read the prompt, and then read it again. This is where giving yourself plenty of time to write comes in handy. Rather than immediately starting to write:

• Let the prompt sit with you awhile so that you come up with the best response
• Think of the prompt as a question to be answered
• Consider your audience while being your authentic self

Related:  How to answer scholarship essay questions about your career goals

Start with a hook

Your writing teachers were not joking about the importance of the introductory hook. There are a number of ways to hook the reader, including:

• Using startling statistics
• Opening with a moving sentence
• Making a strong statement

For an example of an engaging hook, say you are writing an essay about social media distraction. Perhaps you could open with:

It might sound odd, but I love my flip phone. In fact, I feel nothing but disdain for that moment stealing villain, the iPhone .

See how you’re already interested in reading on? Effective writing is all about telling an engaging story, and a strong hook is the first step!

Go Deeper: How to start a scholarship essay (with examples)

Don’t forget formatting

Be mindful of any required formatting. This might include a word count or page limit. The application may also specify single or double sentence spacing, using certain fonts, or using a certain format, such as MLA or APA.

Related: What’s the best scholarship essay format?

Show, don’t tell

Finally, no matter what, do your best to tell an engaging story! If given the opportunity, focus on a specific challenge you’ve faced or goal you’ve achieved. As you tell your story, the qualities that make you a great scholarship applicant–your drive, your passion, and your personality–will shine through!

In conclusion?

Speaking of conclusions, don’t end your scholarship application essay with “in conclusion,” which sounds robotic on the page. Instead, think about why what you wrote matters, and remind the reader of just that.

An effective way to bring cohesion to your essay is to refer back to your hook in the closing. For example, if you used that flip phone introduction, your closing might say:

So while some people have 100s of pictures of “experiences” that they were not truly present for, I have lifelong memories stored in my own mind, no extra cloud space required.

Notice how that ending wows? It wraps up your “story” and leaves the reader with a lasting impression of who you are as a person.

Key Takeaways

• Having to write an essay may feel intimidating, but we promise that you are more than capable of completing this step of your application
• Give yourself plenty of time to sit with the essay prompts and then draft your response
• Once you’ve written your essay, ask friends or family to read your work 
• Most importantly remember to take time to read all the directions about the essay and answer the questions that they are asking you

Final thoughts

For more in-depth instructions on how to conclude your scholarship essay, you can consult our guide on how to end scholarship essays . If you are looking for additional scholarship opportunities, check out our list of top writing & essay scholarships .    

Remember, writing scholarship essays is an opportunity to show who you are in a way that test scores and rankings never can. Don’t miss out on winning scholarship awards that you qualify for. Happy writing, all, and don’t forget to apply for all the scholarships you qualify for!

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Frequently asked questions about how to write a winning scholarship essay

How do you write a hook for a scholarship essay, what should i write for a scholarship essay, how do i make my college essay stand out, scholarships360 recommended.

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Tips for Creating a Memorable MBA Application Essay

Three simple steps you can take to ensure your MBA application essay is noticed and give your whole application a boost.

Amy Mitson is Senior Associate Director, Recruitment and Communications, Admissions at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth.

What if I did this blog post in haiku format? That might be fun. It might get me noticed and it could get me some style points with readers out there, but how much could I truly express?

On the flip side, what if I ignored all word limits and keep writing and writing? That might also get me noticed, too, but not in a good way.

When was the last time you tackled the task of essay writing for an audience? Perhaps you have not written an essay since your college applications or maybe you write every day, but only for yourself. Regardless of your writing fitness, we are likely asking a unique question for submission to a unique audience (the admissions committee). This may require reflection and inspiration. There are places I go for inspiration that help me set the stage for creative and focused thought. Find these places for yourself. Sometimes I let my mind wander while swimming laps during my morning workout, sometimes mid-afternoon I walk down the road to a food truck for a giant cookie (yes, food for thought), and sometimes I brainstorm with a colleague. These actions help shake up my thoughts so they eventually align on the page.

Over the years, many schools have changed the number of required essays as well as the content of essay questions, but most continue to ask for essays. Why? Because we value the expression of your candidacy in this format. Essays are a piece of the MBA application because we are truly interested in your answers. A memorable essay draws authentic connections between you and the school. This will not be a laundry list of buzz words or faculty names from our website. A memorable essay is clear and reflects who you are as a person, what you hope to get out of the program, and how you will be able to contribute.

There are many things to think about when crafting an essay for your MBA application, but I am going to keep it simple and focus on three:

1. Answering the question . This is tough because it requires focus. There are likely numerous details you would like to share with the committee about your candidacy. Through the many facets of the application, plus the interview, you will have the opportunity to do so. For now, though, the specific essay question you are looking at is your priority.

Essays are a chance for you to really tell your story. Be sure you understand the questions and that you answer the question that is asked. That may sound obvious, but many applicants try to make an essay they wrote for another school fit the question, or they may use the question as an opportunity to say what they want to say instead of what the committee has asked. Please leave your worries behind and answer the question being presented.

2. Use only your voice. Tell us your story in a natural and honest way. Tell us what you really think, not what you think the admissions committee wants to hear. Your response should be descriptive, straightforward and sincere. Take time to think, then write – these are not easy questions to answer.

3. Proofread . Typos create a poor impression, and inserting the wrong school name in your essay creates a very poor impression. Unfortunately, it happens. Find a friend who can give your essay a second look. You have probably read it a dozen times and might need a set of fresh eyes. Spell check and grammar check are a great start, but double check these checks… and then you will really be getting somewhere!

How to Write an MBA Application Essay That Stands Out

Personal MBA Coach regularly publishes detailed tips on how to approach most of the top MBA application questions (download our e-book on how to approach the M7 essays ). Of course, our clients received details and customized advice through our comprehensive packages , but some key essay writing and editing basics hold true regardless of the essay question or school. To share these with you, our team, including former M7 admissions directors and Ivy-League-educated editors compiled this guide to successful MBA essay writing .

Effective MBA admissions essays can be different from any other type of prose. Knowing how to approach them can significantly boost your chances of MBA admissions success. Before going into specific MBA essay writing tips, let’s look at the most common types of MBA essays. Understanding the type of essay (and its ultimate purpose) will help you determine which personal and professional examples are most relevant, what tone you should choose, and how you can use the question to demonstrate your candidacy in the best light (and ultimately get into your dream school).

What are the Different Types of MBA Essays?

Goals essay.

The purpose of this type of MBA application essay is to discuss your post-MBA career goals and prove that you need an MBA to achieve them. In a goals essay, depending on the word limit, you may share some career highlights as well as your specific short-term and long-term goals. For instance, one of the Wharton MBA admissions essays invites MBA candidates to lay out their professional aspirations. When drafting this type of essay, make sure to be specific and focused. While no one expects you to commit to these goals post-MBA, you should demonstrate to the admissions committee that you have thought about your career goals and determined that an MBA is the ideal steppingstone on your path to achieve them.

Personal Story Essay

Varying in word count, this type of MBA application essay tends to be more personal. The main goal of a self-reflection essay is to get to know the real you. These essays can range from the 900-word, open-ended Harvard Business School MBA application essay to the 100-word questions Michigan Ross asks. Personal MBA Coach’s expert tip here is to stay true to yourself and consider your Personal Story. Do not write what you think the admissions committee wants to read. Write about your passions, values, failures—nothing is off limits. At the same time, you want to keep a positive mindset. If you are discussing your failure or something tragic that happened to you, make sure to present it as a story of growth. This is not a creative-writing contest—remember that you are writing your MBA application essay, and the main goal of this essay should be to convince the admissions committee that you will add a unique perspective in the classroom and on campus.

Contribution Essay

Leadership Essay

While evidence of leadership should be included in many different essay types, some MBA essays directly ask candidates about their leadership experience. Kellogg ’s first MBA essay is a classic example of this: “ Kellogg Leaders are primed to tackle today’s pressing concerns everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Tell us about a time in your life where you’ve needed a combination of skills to solve a problem or overcome a challenge. Which skills did you use? ” While it is great to show how you have led your peers, do not forget about humility. It is expected that your leadership style is still a work in progress. In fact, in some leadership essays, you will want to tell the reader how you wish to fine-tune your leadership style during your MBA.

Video Essay

Video essays are becoming increasingly popular among business schools’ admissions committees. For instance,  Berkeley Haas  introduced a video essay this year. Other schools, including  MIT Sloan , have required a video essay for many years. Some schools, such as  Chicago Booth , require a video essay for applicants offered an interview. The video essay is a completely different format, and unlike all the essay types above, this is the one where you should not overedit. A few bullet points in preparation are great; however, writing out the whole script will make you appear less natural. Video essays are rather more personal, so you want to come across as approachable and show that you would be great to have in the classroom. Appearing too rigid and rehearsed will hinder your chances. Also, unless given directions otherwise, keep the style simple. Simply talking into the camera will look much more professional than a heavily edited video with lots of unnecessary special effects.

How to Approach the MBA Admissions Essay Writing Process?

Now, let’s talk about the basics of the essay writing process. We advise our candidates to follow a 5-step process as they develop their application essays, leaving adequate time for each stage.

1. Brainstorm

Brainstorm each essay question one at a time. Now that early decision deadlines have passed, you are free to begin with the essay that seems easiest or comes most naturally to you, as your writing will improve throughout the process. In developing potential topics, consider your relevant strengths, experiences, and accomplishments: Choose those that bring the most to the table.

Before you begin to develop prose, outline the key points you hope to cover in a sequence that flows logically. Pay special attention to the length you will allot to each section of the essay.

Once you have a solid outline, begin to put together your first draft. At this stage, it is ok if your writing is not perfect. Most first drafts will be a bit longer than the final product, but make sure you have the substantive points in place and that they flow together well.

4. Edit and Edit Again

Editing is the most time-consuming part of the essay writing process, particularly if you have written too much in the initial draft. Be critical of what needs to be there and what does not, and make sure you remove extraneous or superfluous material. Fine-tune your writing to make sure that the structure, verbs, and vocabulary all serve to make your thinking clear. Avoid repetition and be concise.

And finally, proofread. If you are not great at spelling or grammar or even generally at writing, ask someone who is good at those things to read your essay. A fresh set of eyes is priceless for catching mistakes. Personal MBA Coach uses proofreaders for each MBA application for this reason.

5 Tips for Writing a Successful MBA Admissions Essay

1) answer the essay question.

This seems like a no-brainer, but many candidates write beautiful essays that do not answer the essay question. Instead of writing what you want to show off, answer the question (or make sure that what you want to show off answers the question!). While we do advise thinking a bit outside of the box and considering the why behind an essay prompt ( what are they really trying to get at? ) first and foremost you must answer the question.

That is one reason recycling essay copy from one school to the other is often not a great idea: While it works sometimes for schools whose essay questions are nearly identical, most often it obscures the whole objective of answering the question. Good MBA essay editing should address this, refocusing the material. So, go through your copy and make sure the answer is in there. If you are using the essay you wrote for another school, make sure you tailor it to fit and answer the pertinent essay prompt.

2) Write Authentically

Do not write what you think admissions committee members want to read. There is no one perfect candidate profile. Instead, your uniqueness will be one of your greatest selling points. Your essays should paint a clear picture of who you are, what motivates you, and what you are passionate about—genuinely. Do not feel compelled to show how you fit the mold that seemingly makes up the “ideal” candidate. If you have no desire to run a non-profit, that is ok. If you are not motivated by improving the environment, do not pretend you are. Readers will see right through this, and you could end up doing more harm than good.

3) Look at the Application Comprehensively

Essays are just one part of the overall MBA application. In addition to submitting a resume (unsure how to write an MBA resume? Check out these tips ), you fill out a detailed application whose value you should use in every detail. Many schools require short essays and short answer questions and video essays as well. In addition, you have letters of recommendation . Those also should be used to your advantage to include material you may not have other opportunity or space to talk about. This means there are other places to list and highlight items such as extracurricular activities.

There is no need—or space—to try to fit this all into your essays: Focus on a few chosen facets of your passions or accomplishments to answer the essay questions and use other material in other places.

4) Keep Your Language and Writing Style  Approachable

You should assume that terms you regularly discuss at the office—what is commonly referred to as industry jargon—are foreign to others, including admissions committee members, and they do not want to have to wade through it, trying to understand, as if it were a foreign language.

Harvard Business School has gone so far as to specifically ask candidates to not use jargon, both in the MBA application essay and the short answer questions. The best MBA essay editing will eliminate jargony language entirely and translate to readily understandable English, which helps convey what you are talking about and who you are. Particularly when it comes to showing off an accomplishment or how you added value in a business scenario, you want to make sure that technical language does not get in the way and impede your ability to clearly communicate what you did. On some occasions, it may be beneficial to ask a loved one to read your essay, though it is not always the best choice—check out this blog for a comprehensive breakdown of when it is a good idea to involve your friends and family in your MBA journey.

5) Limit Flowery Prose  and Simplify Your Style

Similarly, we often read complex flowery prose. By flowery we mean prose that is overly ornate, rambling, and verbose. While showing off your writing style may be the point when applying to a writer’s program, when applying to business school you should write well but in a practical and straightforward manner. Most schools want direct, substantial, detailed answers to the questions—not rambling prose. You should write in a style that is accessible to everyone, from your grandmother to a professor of microfinance, should be able to understand your essays.

In sum, your essays should convey why you are someone others would want to study with, learn from, and eventually be inspired by. That type of person is human and down to earth. Your essays should show this.

Finally, be concise. Write to the word count. If you are having difficulty making a choice between two options, you can vet that choice, but once you have chosen your topic, during the outline process eliminate material that is not needed. It is very hard to cut 200 words from a 500-word essay and not change the overall intended impact and meaning. Trimming 30 words is one thing—though it is very time-consuming, it can be done artfully without losing much—but you cannot cut an essay in half and not lose substance that should be included.

Get Personalized MBA Essay Consulting With Personal MBA Coach

Not sure how to articulate your story through various types of essays? Personal MBA Coach is here to guide you through writing your best MBA application essays! Check out our Comprehensive Packages to see how we can help!

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Dee Leopold, former director of admissions at Harvard Business School, once said, “Applying to Harvard is not an essay writing contest.” What she wanted to advise was that candidates should start working on getting those rich experiences at work and beyond that could be used for writing impactful essays. Once they have a few stories to share they can begin introspecting to bring out suitable experiences to answer specific questions in the essay.

So, an “impressive essay” is one that is based on your unique experiences and manifests your true self in front of the MBA admissions committee.

If you’re looking to apply to a top business school, you should never forget this advice. To help you implement this advice in your essay, in this article, we’ll explain what MBA admissions committees look for in your essays and how to write an MBA essay that impresses the adcom.

Types of MBA essays

Importance of mba essays, what do mba admissions committees want to see in your essays, five tips to write an impressive mba essay, 10 mistakes to avoid in your mba essays, final thoughts.

First, let’s understand the types of MBA essays:

Following are eight common types of MBA essays, which likely cover about 80-90% of the essay archetypes:

• Goals essay
• Self-Reflection essay
• Contribution & Impact essay
• Leadership & Teamwork essay
• Video essay
• Optional essay
• Application form essay
• Creative essay

This is one essay you can expect to see on MBA applications to most schools. The goal of this essay is to find out why you want to go to business school and what you plan to do afterward. More often than not, schools also ask applicants to share their motivations for wanting to pursue an MBA at their school. There are many different ways to answer the question and different word limits.

For example, Wharton has a 500-word question about this, while Darden has a 200-word specific question about this. On the other hand, MIT Sloan does not ask you at all about your goals. 

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

Darden essay prompt – At this time how would you describe your short-term, post-MBA goal in terms of industry, function, geography, company size, and/or mission and how does it align with the long-term vision you have for your career? (200 words)

Self-Reflection

In a self-reflection essay, you can talk about the values and traits that make up who you are as a person. These essays also give you an opportunity to talk about how you dealt with a failure or how you would handle an ethical dilemma.

Stanford GSB ’s essay prompt is a perfect example. GSB requires applicants to talk about what matters most to them and why. Such questions require deep introspection in order for you to get to the core of your personality and influences.

Contribution & Impact Essay

The contribution essay in MBA applications is a great way for schools to assess what applicants might bring to the table. Some examples of such essays include:

Wharton – Taking into consideration your background– personal, professional, and/ or academic- how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community?

Cornell Johnson – At Cornell, our students and alumni share a desire to positively impact the organizations and communities they serve. Taking into consideration your background, how do you intend to make a meaningful impact on an elite MBA community?

Leadership Essay

This MBA essay format allows you to tell an admissions committee about a time when you showed leadership or initiative, or some other favorable trait that they may use to judge your potential.

Here are a few samples of MBA essays:

Berkeley Haas – What kind of leader do you aspire to be and why?

Kellogg – Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn?

Video Essay

Video essays can help give the admissions committee a chance to learn more about an applicant’s personality and how they may perform in job interviews. It also gives the admissions committee a chance to judge the candidate’s nonverbal and verbal communication skills, which can also help them select / eliminate candidates without investing limited resources in offering full-fledged interviews. And they can also be used to test a candidate’s ability to thrive in stressful situations. In case you are wondering how, allow us to explain. In many cases, you have as little as 30-60 seconds to formulate your answer before you have to deliver your response on-the-spot or extempore. Yikes! And then, there could also be an unusual situation like the one we heard at a conference with school representatives where a cat basically jumped into the frame when this person was completing a video essay and the person gracefully lifted the cat up and got her out of the way, all while smiling and completing delivery of her response. Talk about a superstar, right?

Examples – Kellogg Video essays

• Video essay 1: Please introduce yourself to the admissions committee.
• Video essay 2: What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?
• Video essay 3: This question will be based on a challenge you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from it.

Optional Essay

Optional essays are meant to explain extenuating circumstances related to academic performance, gaps in work experience, etc. (most schools have this) or provide additional information which makes this type of essay totally open-ended.

Duke Fuqua – If you feel there are circumstances of which the admissions committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g. unexplained gaps in work, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance). Note that you should NOT upload additional essays or additional recommendations in this area. The Optional Information section is intended to provide the admissions committee with insight into your circumstances only.

London Business School – Is there any other information you believe the Admissions Committee should know about you and your application to London Business School?

Application Form Essay

These essays typically ask for supplemental information about you. 

For example, London Business School asks these details

• Tell us about your responsibilities. Describe your day-to-day role, details of any clients you work with/for, the level/title of the person you report to, the size of the budget for which you are directly responsible, and the number of people in your team. (400 words max)
• Tell us about your main interests and activities in your free time. (300 words max)

Having a solid GMAT or GRE score is the first step toward creating a competitive MBA application. However, the process is not over yet. As the number of people applying to business schools continues to rise, standing out based only on your GMAT score becomes increasingly difficult. You won’t be the only person who applies with strong test scores. So, what can you do to improve your chances of getting into your target business school? Write an impeccable essay.

MBA essays are a great way to demonstrate your strengths, vulnerabilities, motivations and explain any parts of your application that could raise eyebrows. A low GMAT score or GPA can be explained by a well-written essay, but a strong test score alone will never make up for a bad essay. That’s how important an essay is.

And what makes a great essay great? The one that shows the ‘true’ you because that is what MBA admissions committees expect.

Jennifer Hayes, Senior Associate Director at Kellogg says , “We are looking for the story YOU wish to tell. The best essays I’ve read have heart, are not over-edited, and let the applicant’s personality emerge.”

MBA admissions committees want to ‘know you better’ through your essays. They want to see a true reflection of yourself in your essay and this is exactly what the Stanford MBA admissions committee advises its applicants – “There is no typical Stanford MBA student, no ideal for applicants to chase. Our advice is to just focus on you and ensure that your application is a true reflection of yourself.”

Chad Losee, HBS’s Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, said that the main purpose of the essay is for them to learn more about you. The choices you’ve made, what drives you, and any experiences that have shaped you. But you shouldn’t be afraid to show who you are in the process.

He specifies 5 things to keep in mind while writing an essay for Harvard Business School admissions:

• The essay should add new information. It shouldn’t be another version of your resume.
• It should be of the right length. HBS MBA essay has a word limit of 900 words, so you should conclude within the word limit.
• The essay should be about ‘you’ – Ask yourself could this essay also describe someone else.
• The adcom should know you better after reading your essay
• While rewriting/editing to polish your resume, don’t shine away your personality.

Now that you know what MBA admissions committees wish to see in your essays let’s take a look at how to write an essay that impresses them.

Be Authentic

Don’t write what you think the people on the admissions committee want to read. Your best selling points are the things and experiences that make you unique. Each essay should give a clear picture of who you are, what drives you, and what you’re passionate about.

In a similar way, don’t feel like you have to fit the “ideal” candidate’s profile. The admissions committee will see right through this, and you could end up hurting your chances of getting in more than helping. Instead, put all your energy into just being yourself.

Kris Mercuri, Director of Admissions, Recruiting and Outreach at the Yale School of Management states , your essay is an “opportunity to speak in your own voice about something meaningful and distinctive in your life.” Don’t waste this opportunity by writing about something inauthentic that you think will make you look better, but is actually a pretense.

Carefully structure your essay

Blair Mannix, the admissions director at Wharton , shared in this video that all successful essays had the same structure: the setup, the pivot point, and the future.

The setup tells the admissions committee who you are, what you do, and what you’ve learned.

The pivot moment is when you switch from talking about what you know and do to what you want to learn and how it will help you achieve. Mannix calls this a “lightbulb moment,” when you realize you’d be better in your work with additional knowledge.

In the last portion of your essay, explain how obtaining knowledge and abilities/skills will improve your career and why that MBA program will make this achievable.

Answer the specific question asked

So many applicants submit well-written essays that fail to address the prompt. I strongly support thinking outside of the box and considering the “why” behind an essay topic. First and foremost, you must answer the question.

Business school applicants are generally extremely successful and over-achievers in their domains, and it might be tempting to try and cram your accomplishments into your essays. Don’t give in to this temptation; instead, zero in on the question at-hand.

Be Succinct

In our experience, several of the best full-time MBA programs are imposing tighter word limits on essays. In recent application cycles, many schools have lowered their required essay word counts, including Michigan Ross, Stanford GSB, UCLA Anderson, and Duke Fuqua. In fact, Harvard Business School, which previously did not have a word limit, has introduced a 900-word-limit on its single prompt in the year 2022-23. Moreover, schools are also mandating checks in their applicant portals where candidates are no longer able to exceed word limits either. Keeping these patterns in mind, it’s important to remember one important piece of guidance: keep it short and sweet.

Focus on giving a few essential highlights, peppering in some intriguing details, and letting your true voice come through in your writing rather than trying to inundate the reader with information. Explain your decisions, highlight your achievements, and talk about what you’re passionate about. It will be easier to accomplish this goal if you narrow the scope of your essays.

Write Business School specific essays

It might seem self-evident that the topic of your business school application essay should be the business school itself. However, this is an excellent chance to demonstrate your preparation and interest in the school in question.

Do you know what courses you would want to pursue? If you are accepted, have you decided which extracurricular activities you wish to participate in? How would you contribute to the school’s community?

Have answers to these questions ready. These will certainly show why you consider this particular business school an important place that will transform you personally and  professionally

You now know what to do to make your essay an impressive one. Next, you should know the things to avoid while writing your essays.

Do you want to impress the MBA Adcom with your essay?

At Crack The MBA, we have helped hundreds of students get into top MBA programs around the world. We would be happy to help you too. Schedule a consultation with us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you get into your dream school.

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Top MBA programs look for candidates from all over the world who share their school’s values, want to grow personally and professionally, and can organize their thoughts and talk in a clear way. With so much competition from around the world, it’s even more important that your MBA admissions essays stand out.

Your admissions essays can’t have any mistakes if you want to get into a top business school. There are many different things you can tell the adcom, but there are also a few things you should never do.

Here are 10 mistakes you should avoid in MBA essays:

• Starting too late. Our rule of thumb is to expect to spend 11-12 weeks on applications to 4-5 business schools
• Not researching adequately. Not making an effort to understand the school and how it fits into your plans
• Recycling essays from one school to another
• Not answering the essay question and/or not addressing each part of the question. 
• Trying to copy sample essays
• Providing too many instances, at the risk of confusing the reader
• Not providing something new. Repetitive content 
• Lack of introspection
• Not proofreading.
• Lack of flow

Getting into a good business school can be hard if you don’t know how to write a great MBA admissions essay.

But the process is much easier to handle if you know where to start, make an outline for each essay, and get help from an expert. If you follow these steps, you’ll be able to write a great MBA essay!

Get in touch with us for expert help on your essays. As a result of our interactions with MBA admissions committee members at all top schools, we understand what the MBA admissions committee looks for in a candidate and can advise you appropriately.

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How To Write an Outstanding Scholarship Essay

Jan 16, 2023

UPDATE : This article was originally posted on November 29, 2021. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

There is no single winning formula for writing a successful scholarship essay, especially considering how much the questions vary. In addition, you may be writing to a third-party funding organization or the school itself. In short, there are a lot of considerations to make as you approach scholarship essays.

What is important, however, is that you make your response relevant, unique, and well-strategized. This includes figuring out what content will be most effective for proving that you need and will take advantage of the scholarship, communicating that clearly and passionately, and organizing your essay correctly.

In this post, we guide you through all of these aspects of brainstorming and writing a scholarship essay. Using our tips, we guarantee that your essay will stand out and show the scholarship committee that you will use their opportunity wisely!

Read (and re-read!) the question

It may seem obvious, but you have to be sure you’re answering the question that’s being asked — we have seen many clients write their first drafts and have to completely rewrite their responses because they failed to provide an appropriate response. So, before you even start brainstorming, it’s essential that you completely understand what the question is asking.

Identify any values or themes that the question is centering on and try to understand what the purpose of the question is . In other words, you will want to ask yourself: how will the scholarship committee be using this question to determine who does and doesn’t receive the award, and how can I use this question to my advantage ? 

Know your audience

Once you’ve figured out the direction your response should go in, the next step is knowing who you’ll be writing it to. Knowing your audience is essential for any piece of writing, especially when you are competing against hundreds of others for a selective scholarship.

For this step, we suggest doing some of your own research into the values and activities of the funding organization or department. For example, if you are applying for a scholarship that is funded by an organization that values diversity and inclusion, you may want to see what kinds of initiatives they promote so you know what kind of diversity-related topics and approaches they believe in. In turn, this will help you choose what ideas and examples you write about.

Brainstorm relevant strengths, values, and skills you can highlight

Now, it’s time to think more concretely about how to link these bigger ideas to you . What strengths, values, and skills of yours connect to what the scholarship committee is looking for? And how can these demonstrate that you will take full advantage of the scholarship?

For this step, we recommend that you write down as many of these aspects as you can think of and why this would be valuable for your scholarship application. (If you have already established your personal brand , this is a helpful starting place.) Then, think about how you can relate these main ideas to what the question is asking. 

For example, let’s imagine the question is asking why gaining new perspectives is important for leadership. While you might have great analytical skills, you might also want to list out how you have learned from and utilized your collaboration strengths to learn from others. Focusing on an aspect of your leadership that relates to new perspectives will not only show that you have a versatile set of skills and strengths but also that you are a good fit for the scholarship and its community.

Write down examples in STAR format

Now that you have an idea of what strengths, values, and skills you may be able to use for your essay, the next step is to think of corresponding examples from your personal and professional life. Using examples in your scholarship essay is key to painting a clear picture of how your ideas have played out in your own context and showing the readers why your strengths and skills are important and valuable in relation to the scholarship. 

So, for each idea that you are using to respond to the question, we suggest at least one example of how you used that strength, skills, or value. Each of these should be in STAR format . This means that you should be detailing the context and/or challenges, your responsibilities, your actions, and the results of your efforts. We also suggest adding in the impact of your intervention in a way that relates to the question. 

Continuing from the example above, if you are telling a story about how you used collaboration to drive innovative results at your company, you will want to explain the challenge your team or company was facing, what your plan or tasks were to utilize collaboration to overcome the challenge, how you carried these tasks out — ideally, detailing the unique ways that you leveraged a wide variety of perspectives — and what the results of your actions were, including what you learned about the value of combining different perspectives on the problem at hand. 

Remember, the examples you choose to highlight should demonstrate clearly how you put the values and ideas that the scholarship committee is looking for into action .

Use keywords from the prompt

As you start to hone down on which ideas and examples are the best fit for your essay, it’s also a good idea to consider what keywords from the question you can integrate into your essay. 

Using keywords from the question (as well as the funding organization or school’s values) will demonstrate your commitment to the committee’s values. It will also ensure that you are clearly connecting your ideas and stories to the question. 

Write an engaging introduction

We always suggest writing essay bodies first so your main ideas are clear and fleshed out. Once you have done this, it’s time to think about how to add the final touches: an introduction and conclusion that engage the readers and make you stand out.

There are many possibilities for writing an introduction with a great hook. For example, you may want to invoke imagery of a moment that impacted you and motivated you to be invested in the values that you will be writing about. One of our clients’ introduction sentences for a diversity-oriented scholarship, for instance, was this: 

My mother, a successful businesswoman from Brazil, and my father, a medical worker from India, have always shown me the valuable things that can be achieved from cross-cultural collaboration and diverse perspectives. Together, they have come up with amazing fusion meals, enhanced their careers by learning from each other’s different views of success, and raised me to be an open-minded and team-oriented person and professional. Thanks to my parents, I have a unique and deep passion for diversity and inclusion, which has evolved into my career, allowing me to produce outstanding and innovative results through collaboration.

This introduction demonstrates a clear and well-founded motivation for diversity and inclusion through a specific picture of the applicant’s background. It’s an excellent window into why diversity means so much to this person and, what’s more, leaves the scholarship committee wanting to know more about how they have integrated this lesson into action by the end of the introduction paragraph.

Write a conclusion that synthesizes your ideas

Once you’ve written your introduction, you can move on to your conclusion. Rather than being a simple, repetitive summary of everything you’ve written in the response, this should be a synthesis that looks forward to the future. In other words, you will want to reiterate the main ideas you’ve presented but then show how you will bring your demonstrated skills/strengths/values forward using the scholarship.

Thus, to write a captivating conclusion, you will want to emphasize why you are a good fit for the scholarship and be sure to say how it will help you achieve your objectives related to the question.  For example, if you are writing about the importance of constant learning, it would be a great idea to write about what the scholarship will provide you that will allow you to keep making growth-oriented achievements during your master’s program and, if applicable, what opportunities or aspects of the scholarship’s community you could leverage to nurture your/others’ development.

Get expert help to write a winning scholarship essay

Considering all the work you’ve put into the MBA application process , writing even more essays for scholarships may feel like an overwhelming task. This is especially true considering that each essay will likely require its own set of expectations and examples.

Luckily, Ellin Lolis Consulting’s team has the experience and storytelling power to help you turn your ideas into successful essays that earn you the scholarships you’re applying for . From brainstorming the right stories that will impress the scholarship committee to polishing your essay’s structure and grammar (and even helping you negotiate scholarship offers !), we are here to ensure perfection.

For example, Fernando used our services and was admitted to Michigan Ross’s Erb dual degree program on a full scholarship. Here’s what he had to say:

“ Ellin’s amazing contributions to my application led me to be admitted to my top program on a full scholarship. I can comfortably say that the return on my investment was bigger and faster beyond my wildest dreams!

If you are looking for an MBA consultant that is capable of understanding your story comprehensively rather than giving quick glances to your essays, go with Ellin.”

To learn more about our essay editing options and how we can help you write an outstanding scholarship essay, click here.

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The Right Way to Negotiate MBA Merit Scholarships

Acceptance into an MBA program is a major accomplishment that makes the months of application preparation (and worrying) all worth it. Icing on the cake is learning that you’ve also been awarded a merit scholarship.

If you suddenly find yourself with a financial incentive to attend a certain school, you’ll be understandably honored and overjoyed at your good fortune. However, if you’ve been accepted into more than one program, this unexpected twist can often make your ultimate decision that much harder.

Here’s something such lucky future students often forget: you can try to negotiate merit scholarships. This is one of those rare situations in life where — if handled professionally, of course — you really have nothing to lose.

If you received drastically different scholarship amounts for two or more programs — or were given a financial award for one school but nothing for another — why not contact the adcom and explain your situation?

This is probably obvious, but we wouldn’t recommend naming the competing institution, sharing your offer letter or making demands. Rather, simply reach out to the admissions office, reiterate your deep interest in attending their program, and then ask if it’s possible to be considered for a higher scholarship amount (or any scholarship amount) because you now have another offer of acceptance and financial incentive on the table.

Until next time,

The team at Stacy Blackman Consulting

*** Do you want to stay on top of the application process with timely tips like these? Please subscribe to our  weekly newsletter  and you’ll receive our expert advice straight in your mailbox before it appears on the blog, plus special offers, promotions, discounts, invitations to events, and more.

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How to Negotiate MBA Scholarships + Example Letter

You’ve won an MBA scholarship, but not from your dream school. Should you take it?

It’s a fortunate dilemma to have, but one that ties many of our clients in knots around this time year. The scenario typically goes like this: You’ve been offered a scholarship at one school – but not your dream school, where you have also been accepted. What do you do? Do you take the money, or can you use this offer to leverage other schools for financial assistance?

Business school is a huge investment, so when you receive a scholarship – even when it’s not from your first-choice school – it’s obviously something to take seriously.

In a related article on how to choose between MBA offers, my Fortuna colleague Judith Silverman Hodara recounted a conundrum in which her client received an acceptance from his dream program, London Business School, along with an offer from Columbia that included $120,000 in financial aid. With international career aspirations and a background in energy, LBS was initially his top choice. But the uncertainty around Brexit and concerns about securing a visa in Europe – plus the reality that the LBS offer came with no money – ended up tipping the balance for CBS.

At the same time, know that it’s perfectly acceptable to tell your top choice school you have money on the table somewhere else. While this doesn’t guarantee a counteroffer, there are several things you can do to optimize your chances.

5 tips to leveraging a scholarship offer at two or more business schools

1. Have a clear strategy and practice your approach; be clear about why you want to be at your top choice school and be clear you’re open to a conversation.

2. Be genuine and convey your commitment to the school, along with your excitement for the program personally and professionally.

3. Make sure you follow the school’s protocol and provide all the necessary information to the right people. In most cases, the Admissions Office approves merit-based scholarships and the Financial Aid Office controls need-based grants.

4. Put your case in writing. (Example letter below.) Provide supporting documentation to make it easy for them to justify an increased award. Then, call to follow up in a week or two to ask if they need any additional info.

5. Be humble; this is a human process and people advocate for individuals they believe are taking their needs into consideration; if you come across as arrogant or demanding, it’s likely your request gets denied.

Example Letter: Asking a Business School for More Money

So, what does an artful ask look like? Here’s an example from a recent MBA candidate negotiating between two top 10 business schools:

Dear Admissions Committee,

I wanted to express how thrilled I was to be admitted to the [business school] Class of 2022 and thank you all again for the generous scholarship and Forte Fellowship!

As I will be financing my MBA studies, I was wondering if there are any other merit-based scholarships for which I can be considered and/or for which I can submit additional applications? I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship from [other b-school] for $60,000 with a Forte designation. I had begun to budget based on that amount, and was curious if there was any possibility of [business school] matching that offer. I would be happy to send along the documentation from [other b-school] if it would be useful.

Thank you so much again; I’m so excited about the prospect of coming to [business school]!

Finally, if your top choice school can’t provide additional funds, at this point, school culture should play a huge part in your decision. Whether you go with the scholarship opportunity or not, you want to be confident your chosen school is the right fit from an academic, career and cultural standpoint. The notion of fit really can’t be overstated – keep the long view in mind and remember the ROI of business school implies that you stand to increase your earning power substantially. As Judith says, “Your access to opportunity will never diminish, and stands to multiply exponentially, because of the degree.”

For more tips on negotiating financing from a business school, view this related article by Fortuna’s Matt Symonds in Forbes: Asking A Business School For More Money? Six Tips For Closing The Deal .

Fortuna Admissions expert coach Catherine Tuttle is former Associate Director at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Her recent articles include Duke Fuqua Essays: Top Tips & ’25 Random Things About You’ Example . For a candid assessment of your chances of admission success at a top MBA program, sign up for  a free consultation .

The post How to Negotiate MBA Scholarships + Example Letter first appeared on Fortuna .

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Funding your MBA

We strongly encourage Evening & Weekend MBA students who wish to receive loan funding to assist with financing their education to submit an application for financial aid. The process is simple and all students — regardless of need — are eligible to apply for assistance.

A team of experts at the Chicago Office of Financial Aid are here to simplify these processes and guide you throughout your time at Kellogg.

Scholarships for the Evening & Weekend MBA are offered by admissions and do not require a separate financial aid application.

Scholarships and grants available at Kellogg

The Kellogg Evening & Weekend MBA admissions committee awards a limited number of scholarships during the admission cycle. Scholarship decisions are awarded based on a holistic review of the overall application for admission and may require an additional essay component. Admitted students are typically notified prior to decision deadlines.

The admission committee scholarship awards include:

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There are a variety of scholarship programs offered through state agencies, private foundations and civic and professional organizations. Explore your options for outside resources and scholarship search engines.

If you are awarded funding from an outside organization, make sure to provide the Chicago Financial Aid Office address for fast processing.

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