The MBA Admissions Studio

“How strictly do I have to stick to the essay word limit? How much can I go over? Does it matter if I’m under?” is a question I get a lot from clients and people who pop up on email.

To answer this, it’s essential, as always, to think about any process or task or limit in admissions from AdCom’s point of view. Put yourself in their shoes. Why do they ask for it? What are they trying to achieve? How does it help them?

So, what is AdCom trying to do with word limits? First, if there were no limits applicants would ask incessantly: “Please Miss, how long must it be?” Second, some applicants would write the great American novel, which would waste their time and the Committee’s. Third, limits provide a way of getting essays from different applicants to be more directly comparable, being the same length.

But there is play in the system. The purpose of the essays is to get to know the applicant via their writing, and everyone knows that writing is a creative process and certainly nobody expects you to hit the word count on the nail. This is not engineering or accounting. (Believe it or not, some clients fuss the word count until they have exactly the number asked for, taking touching comfort in a detail that will provide them absolutely no refuge.) Anyway, application forms often talk about a word “guide” rather than word “limit.” So you can clearly go a bit over, but by how much?

My advice to clients is not to go more than +5% in any essay. This kind of margin is a natural “rounding error” in finishing up what you have to say and will not hurt you if your reader is a reasonable person, which we assume she is. More than this will start to look like you are taking advantage and/or asking for an indulgence that your competitors are not getting.

However if you write a number of essays that are noticeably short it is fine to have one or two that are commensurately longer, so that the whole comes out more or less right. In fact, Stanford GSB explicitly allows this: its guidance is both per essay and for the essay set as a whole (1,800 words), so you are invited to trade off between essays as you see fit. How well you do this is, by the way, a test of your communications judgment.

Can you go under the limit? Similarly, I advise clients not to go less than -5% on any essay. In one sense, like all professional communicators, I believe strongly in “say what you have to say; say it once, strongly and clearly and then stop talking.” This is the royal road to more powerful communications. Certainly there’s no merit in padding, wafffling, and repeating yourself. But admissions essays are relatively short pieces of writing, and you — if you merit a place at a top b-school — are a multifaceted, talented individual with an valuable track record, and if you can’t find things to say to take up the word count this in itself flags that you have not been able to (or haven’t bothered to) properly investigate your own motivations or fully argue your merits.

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Tags: accounting, admissions red flags, b-school, communications, engineering, Essay word count, essay writing, motivations, Stanford GSB, track record, word limit

As an MBA applicant one of the things to get straight is who you are talking to, in general, when you write your essays. This doesn’t mean you should be looking to target or “game” your essays in a narrow sense. But getting your head around who is on the other end is a crucial part of your role in creating effective communication and therein getting admitted.

I was struck by this introduction to a Business Week interview with UCLA Anderson director of MBA admissions, Mae Jennifer Shores. [The full text of the interview is here: UCLA Anderson: Admissions Q&A - BusinessWeek.]

“The assistant dean and director of MBA Admissions at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, says she ended up an admissions officer the way most people do—unintentionally. She went to Russia to teach public policy, but was assigned to teach negotiations at a business school at the last minute. After two years, she wanted to continue her Eastern European stay and almost took a job teaching in Kazakhstan. Her graduate school loans, however, forced her back to the U.S. There, Shores’ international and business-school experience eventually led her into the admissions department at Anderson.”

Every admissions officer is different of course. But what they have in common is, well, it is unlikely that a person plans and studies for this career. Most come to it “sideways.” They typically have broad interests, are people-focused, and are good communicators. They have lived life in more than one industry and often more than one country. They are generally not business trained, although many have some background in HR or marketing.

This makes the MBA applicant essay writer’s job harder and easier. It’s easier to engage an interesting person. Almost anything topic you raise will be “valid” for them. But it’s harder if all your stories are highly technical, or closely work-oriented. If your life experience or perspective is limited, and so your ability to reflect deeply and persuasively on your life and career path is therefore also limited, you’re not going to fool the likes of Mae Jennifer Shores.

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Tags: admissions red flags, b-school, career path, communications, essay writing, UCLA Anderson, writing style

Harvard has released their new essay questions, and deadlines for 2009-10, adding a cover letter essay (optional) which MIT Sloan’s has as a standard request for years. Still only four essays are required for HBS, and the first two compulsory questions remain the same:

1. What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600)
2. What have you learned from a mistake? (400)

For essays essays 3 and 4, applicants now have five topics to choose from (up from four) two of which are new. One , a cover letter “introducing yourself to the Admissions Board,” is equivalent to the MIT Sloan signature essay.

This is no surprise. Cover letters are deeply difficult to get right because they require acute balance between brevity and detail. They test your ability to extract and communicate what is really important – demonstrating a key management skill.

The other new question: “Tell us about a time when you made a difficult decision,” is familiar ground in admissions, and something well covered in MBA Studio’s profiling process that focuses on your key life transitions (why?) and prepares you for questions like this in your essays and interview.

The full set of options for HBS essays 3 & 4 are:

Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):
1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?
2. Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.
3. Tell us about a time when you made a difficult decision.
4. Write a cover letter to your application introducing yourself to the Admissions Board.
5. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

The deadlines are (all 5pm EST) R1: October 1, 2009; R2: January 19, 2010; R3: April 8, 2010

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Tags: accomplishments, Adcom, admissions red flags, application timeline, career plan, communications, Community Service, cover letter, difficult decision, essay writing, HBS, interviews, mistake, MIT Sloan, profile development, profiling, undergraduate experience

There’s a heartwarming story in today’s Philippine Star (philstar.com) by Gina Valerie Chua, who tells the story of her March HBS interview and April admission to Harvard. See the full story at this link.

Other than the feel good factor, for admissions purposes there are two takeaways. First is she beat out many apparently better candidates – as she puts it: “those NASA astronauts and genetic scientists who are dreaming of the exact same thing.” She says: “Only 900 applicants are admitted out of 10,000 from all over the world: investment bankers, UN diplomats, cancer-curing surgeons — and little old me somehow found my way through.”

I’m sure she is being modest about her own competitive profile, but the point remains. You don’t need to be a superstar. You just need to be competitive and apply well.

The second takeaway concerns reflections on the HBS interview.

Says Chua: “I remember my interview. They asked me why I insist on writing despite my career in investment banking, an anomaly in this world of perfectly drawn certainties. What I told them is the very reason you are reading this now: I wish to write about possibility. Whether we are meant to find it at home or some 9,000 miles away, there is a world waiting for us, waiting for our courage and our lack of self-restriction. We cannot help but be creators — of books, skyscrapers, wars or dynasties — and the best of who we are can only be found in the hope they leave behind.”

Idealistic waffle wouldn’t you say? Puke? Well, that’s the point. For better or worse most Adcoms like idealism. Harvard perhaps more than most. They don’t want naivete, but they do like world-changing visions. If you are not something of a dreamer at 25, you’ll never be, and they are not looking to put the HBS brand on (more) money-grabbing cynics.

And, reassuringly, they don’t penalize anomalies, nor seek a world of perfect certainties. Be yourself.

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Tags: admissions red flags, ambition, Harvard, idealism, interviews, top-10 MBA

Getting previous MBA Studio resources up on the blog site, where they can be permalinked, so here is the transcript of a World MBA Tour online admissions essay advice service, where Avi appeared “live” as expert essay advisor. The text is “as was,” verbatim.

MBA Studio Says
Hi, welcome to the Forum on MBA Admissions Essays. We’ll get started right away. I’ll answer as fast as I can …

Question asked by Brenda Sun
Hi. I’d like to know what the adcomm focuses the most in the MBA essays- The good writing style, the touching stories, or the logical reasoning behind. Does it need to be concise or detailed with strong supporting?

Answered by MBA Studio
What does adcom focus on the most — good writing style, the touching stories, or the logical reasoning behind – actually none of these three specifically. Style is important, but just so you can be clear enough. Touching stories bring your argument to life. Logical reasoning helps to build your argument. The most important thing is the argument – why you are an excellent candidate, what you contribute, why you fit with the school and the program. Everything follows from that.

Question asked by Graeme Lockwood
Hi, I am now writing my essays for London Business School MBA. there are 2 questions I am not sure how to tackle . What well known historical event would you have liked to have been involved in and why? (500 words) First, I don’t know what the adcom tries to know from this essay and I am not sure what kind of events I can talk about. Also, I think that expressing some opinions may be risky. On the basis of your experience of working in and leading teams (either in your professional or personal life), please reflect on how you plan to contribute to your study group and the wider school community. (500 words) In this question, I want to be sure of the kind of contributions that can be made to the school community.

Answered by MBA Studio
I’ll take these one by one. First, “What well known historical event would you have liked to have been involved in and why?” This is one of the classic types of question (The question “archetypes” — as I’ve defined in my book) This question wants to get to know more about you as a person — what’s important to you, and why. The trick is to pick something that is in itself valid and significant, but also allows you to make one of your theme points.

MBA Studio Says:
As to the second part of the question: they are asking you plain as daylight “plan to contribute to your study group and the wider school community” Tell them. Never mind what you think they want you to contribute. As long as it’s a valid contribution and you can credibly make it, they want it. What they want is diversity of contributions, not one thing.

Question asked by shruti singh
How to write a good essay in MBA application

Answered by MBA Studio
Wow, you’ll have to focus this a bit for me I have written a whole book on this … which part of the essay process would you like me to address?

Question asked by Alexander Sorge
HI Avi, nice to meet you! I´m new here! I found this TOP MBA Forum very helpful and would like to join Forum members. The problem is that I´m a Spanish native speaker interested in Chinese Culture.. to request the scholarship from Taiwan requires an appealing essay, writing an essay is a very hard-job!. what shall I probably write that possible works to get the Taiwan scholarship. Or what should never mention when writing an essay.

Answered by MBA Studio
Hi Alexander, again you’ll have to focus the question, or tell me more about yourself. Try to figure out what type of candidate gets the scholarship and emphasize your overlap with that kind of candidate.
What never to mention in an essay …? Never apologise, never denigrate yourself. If you’ve messed up at something, say so. Say what you learned, and move on to the positive

Question asked by Verma Vertika
Dear Avi, As an international student and a person who is not good at writing, I want to know whether it is a big problem. Now facing the essay topics, I think I have some good ideas. But to convey them effectively and beautifully is not my strong point. Compared to some essays I have read, I feel very worried and ashamed with my writing. What should I do now? I want to give an example of what I mean here: When telling about getting out of shyness, someone who is good at writing may write “I no longer wanted to hide under the shell of a lethargic tortoise, or act as a pariah”, a sentence which seems impossible to come to my mind!

Answered by MBA Studio
Schools “get it” that applicants come with different English writing levels. It’s business school, not literature school. So all you have to do is be clear. You don’t have to have beautiful prose, or literary allusions to tortoises etc. Having said that, clarity is very very hard, as you can see by all the turgid writing all around. What I do when I help candidates with their essays and application strategy, is I help them clarify their ideas. Why are they a valuable candidate? Why does what they bring fit with the school? What are their career goals and why do they need an MBA to fulfil them? If you have a clear mind you writing will be good (or good enough.)

Question asked by Verma Vertika
Sorry Avi, let me ask one more question. Some colleges ask us to write extra essays. One of the most common topics is why we choose it (a college). We are international students, although we have try to find as much information about the college as possible, we don’t have any chance to visit the college or see things in real life. That is the reason this kind of essay is difficult. We can’t tell with all our heart! How could we make our essay effective?

Answered by MBA Studio
No problem Verma, ask away. In this question, are you asking me about the extra essay “If you want the committee to know anything and you have not had a chance to say it, say it here” … or by college do you mean the business school? They do want to know what you know what you know about their school because, for them, it’s about the FIT between you and them. If you don’t know what they are about, you can’t explain the fit. You don’t need to visit the school (it does help) but if you can’t do your best to speak to people who are there, or from there. One great way is to phone or email current students — expecially the heads of clubs and societies you are interesed in– and ask them any/all questions you like.

Question asked by DongDong Cui
Hello Avi, I am done with tests (GRE and TOEFL) and now the final thing I need to prepare is a dreaded admission essay (I need to write two, in fact) I am applying to M.Sc. program in Business Administration (Management Information Systems) and one of the questions for the essay is as follows: Describe two events in your life to date that demonstrate your ability to do well in business. I am puzzled by the word “event” in this question. I am really not sure what to write about because I can’t think of any single event to demonstrate my business abilities. I participated in several important projects and advanced quickly from one position to another at my last job but I can not call it “an event” as it was prolonged in time. Maybe you could help me to think of an idea of event that could demonstrate someone’s ability to do well in business. Something fictions is fine, I just need to understand what kind of event it could be. Many thanks for you advice

Answered by MBA Studio
Ha ha I like it “dreaded admissions essay”! And I do them for a living (btw, I don’t write anyone’s essay for them) Anyway: Them asking for “events” is a way of focusing you on a story. Even if the demonstration of your business ability came as a part of a long process, there was probably some moment, some interaction, some turning point the brings the process to life and shows you off well. That’s your event. Giving that doesn’t mean you can’t also decribe the whole prolonged time as well. In terms of selecting your event, you’ll have to tell me more about you — either here or offline. I’m at avi.gordon@mbastudio.net

Question asked by Nikolas Pearson
Hello Avi! I have been asked to write an essay on post MBA career goals. I am not clear on how specific I should get. Also since I am interested in finance, should I talk only about finance about the MBA experience as well?

Answered by MBA Studio
Hi Nikolas, be as specific as possible. Details are the golden highway to admission. (Most people give generalities, and therefore they all sound like each other.) If you give details you will sound like a guy who knows what he is about, and where he’s going. That’s the kind of person who gets in.
I’m not sure I understand the second part of you question — can you reframe it? One more point on goals: make them big and ambitious. If you have small life and career goals you don’t need an MBA.

Question asked by samuel li
Hi! As a part of a business school essay I have been asked to evaluate a situation and communicate my decision. I wanted to know if business schools expect the case study format i.e analysis, alternatives and then recommendations or if there is some other way of structuring it. Secondly in my case the decision can be either yes or no. So the only way make my case stronger would be to give support to my decision? Have I understood it correctly? Can you tell me where I could find sample studies? I’m interested in knowing how better I could structure my essay. Thanks a lot!

Answered by MBA Studio
Hi Samuel, Which school is this for? Generally, schools don’t want you to follow formula — and it won’t help you to do it, or to seek out samples that “do it right”. They want to see how you think, and evidence of your intelligence, education, and training. You format – analysis, alternatives, reco’s sound right, or right enough. The content will be more important than the form on this one. ps when you get to interviewing, if you interview with big consulting firms, they will have cases that need to be tackled in a highly codified way. But not for admissions

Question asked by william Lee
hi Avi, I have to write a cover letter for my application stating highlights of my objectives and qualifications for admission. Could you help with links or suggestions, Thanks in advance!

Answered by MBA Studio
Hi William, Is this MIT? A cover letter is a test to see if you can extract the salient points. (Senior managers need to be able to do this — executive summaries, etc.) It forces a clarity on you — you have to be able to reduce your argument for admission into a few paragraphs. That means you have to really understand what your argument is! Again clarity is the key. The scaffolding is “These are the three reasons I should be admitted to MIT … 1; 2; 3″ Then take away the scaffolding.

Question asked by Sana Tajammul
I have this question to fill out in an application for MBA at the university of Amsterdam? Now could you please provide a few hints on how I can assess self critically? Do I have to mention negative ideas in order to stress positive ones? or should I only list positive ideas? well I hope you can help me!

Answered by MBA Studio
Sana, what’s the question for Amsterdam? Generally, don’t put negative points unless they ask for them. If you mention negative things / characteristics, also say how you intend to fix them, or how B-school will help you fix them.

Question asked by Nazli Unsur
Hi Avi! I was reading up articles on the web about writing a personal statement and some of the websites suggest writing the SOP in third person while others say that its better to write it in first person so that the SOP doesn’t look too wordy….What would you suggest????? As this is one thing which can sometimes make or break my application I just want it to be THE BEST!! Thanks in advance.

Answered by MBA Studio
Nazli, You are right that the essays make or break the application: Why is that? Because there are always too many people with great scores, great work exp., and great refs. Essays are the tie-breaker between top applicants. As to the Statement of Purpose: always always always in the 1st person. You must be personal. Try to come across as if this is a “fireside” chat with the head of the admissions committee. You get 15 minutes to tell her why you should be admitted rather than the other excellent candidates who are also wanting in.

MBA Studio Says:
All right, I’ll take advantage of a break in the questions to try to summarize a few key points, valid for all competitive MBA applications.
1. You must have a clear “argument” as to why you are a worthy candidate and should be admitted.
2. Your argument will rest on a few key points or themes. While answering the questions you have to also clearly — over a number of essays — make your argument
3. Clarity is your friend. Don’t worry about being a literary buff. Just have an organized position and communicate it in an organized way.
4. Stories help you by bringing your theme points to life. Admissions readers are human — they read stories better than analysis.
5. Be personal. They want to get to know things about you that you can’t know from the Gmat, refs, transcripts etc. Essays must add value to what’s already in your file.

MBA Studio Says:
Okay, that’s the end of the hour — let’s wrap it up here. Thanks for participating. Any more questions. We’re at www.mbastudio.net

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Tags: Adcom, admissions red flags, ambition, Community Service, cover letter, essay structure, essay writing, GMAT, GPA, GRE, LBS, mba, MIT Sloan, profiling, stories, team player, TOEFL, volunteering, writing style

Continuing the process of moving stuff off the static site to this new blog format, this in an interview I did with About.com . The questions allowed me to say some perhaps slightly less-than-usual things. The original is here.
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How soon should potential MBA students start preparing for the admissions process?
About 9 months to a year prior to submission deadline – giving time to research the process, research schools, line up recommenders, do the GMAT etc. Earlier start good, but it’s not a simple case of the earlier the better…
the candidate needs to get immersed in the application process. Certainly s/he doesn’t want to dilute the process over years and years. That’s a recipe for a lukewarm application. Generally applicants should be wary of spending too much time on their application research and production – some do – at the risk of having their career stall and missing the key workplace award or promotion that would help them shine in front of Adcom.

Should prospective MBA students submit applications to several schools or are they better of concentrating their efforts on one or two favorites?
Both really. Favorites should be carefully targeted, no holds-barred. But the applicant should also be street-smart in recognizing that competition for top schools is intense, and any one favorite school acceptance may not emerge. In my experience the ideal number of applications is 4-5. Less means the randomness of random dings is not taken out the equation. More starts to dilute the energy of the applicant and recommender, and take too much time (ref answer above).

In your book, MBA Admissions Strategy, you mention that nearly everyone under 35 with respectable undergraduate transcripts and a good professional record has a realistic chance of getting into the finest business schools. Some prospective students don’t share this optimistic view. I get a large number of emails from individuals who feel that poor GMAT scores or attendance at a less prestigious undergraduate school can hurt their chances during the admissions process. What advice can you offer these students?
In my experience a less prestigious U/G school is a very minor factor, and is entirely a non-factor if there is some concrete reason (normally funding) why the applicant went to “Buckwheat State” and not Harvard College. What counts more is how the applicant performed academically at whatever institution they were at. But even more than that, business schools heavily weigh what a candidate has done between college graduation and MBA application. A good professional record trumps college level branding. (This is different to Grad & Law & Med schools, where applicants apply younger and with less or zero work experience, so college brand is all adcoms have to go on.)

As to GMAT, yes, it is true a minimum threshold GMAT is necessary. If one is not in the high 600s, an application to a top-10 school will stall. But the GMAT works on a threshold principle – the applicant needs a high enough score to relax Adcom about his or her academic ability. After that they start asking other questions – about leadership, team skills, career arc, etc.

Footnote to this is that, believe it or not, a GMAT score can be “too good” – anything above about 760 is problematic. This is because the applicant starts to look like a genius and questions will be asked about whether that person will make a good manager and leader. B-school is a professional place with the aim of turning out people who will survive and thrive in the cut & thrust of real world business. That’s what recruiters want. So Adcom looks carefully at apparent geniuses and dings them if it appears they may be better suited to PhD program and research career.

What are four attributes every admissions committee wants to see in an MBA student?
See my book, chapter 2 “Attributes that Count” for a list of 22 such attributes. It’s hard to say which 4 count the most. I think a clear success record is definitely up there; along with personal integrity; being a team player that mixes well; and leadership experience and potential. But there’s no privileged four. I strongly believe in all 22.

How important is it for applicants to show that they possess these attributes?
The key here is “show”. So many applicants claim they possess attributes. That’s worth nothing. The attributes have to be shown by telling proof stories – that is, anecdotes of the candidate in action, acquiring or living the attribute.

What are the three most common mistakes that an MBA applicant can make, and how can these mistakes be avoided?
1. Trying to be a typical MBA applicant – leading to a generic and therefore low-value application.
2. Inability to see what is precious and valuable in their past activities, from Adcom’s point of view.
3. Wasting precious essay space with sentences and paragraphs that do not deliver or prove profile value.

Is there any additional advice that you can offer students who are trying to develop an MBA admissions strategy?
Candidates should balance their energy between the major blocks of an application, which are: (a)GMAT (b)File essay questions & long essays (c) Recommendations (d) Interview. (I assume their college record is set). In having helped hundreds of applicants get into top schools, the application strategy weakness I see most is candidates who are willing to spend an unbelievable amount of time and energy, not to mention money, trying to get their GMAT score up one notch, while neglecting the rest.

As mentioned, the GMAT operates on a threshold principle – more is better up to a certain point – then more is irrelevant. And the balanced good application beats the unbalanced excellent/patchy application (and remember, they don’t want brainiacs). They are looking for people who appear good on all fronts. Someone who looks like they will continue to be good on all fronts. This is what I call the “CEO-in-Waiting” image.

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Tags: admissions red flags, application timeline, ethics, GMAT, Leadership, success record, team player, undergraduate record