Writing a Winning MBA Essay
Strategies and thoughts to write a great essay for MBA Admissions
By Claudine Vainrub, MBA and Principal of EduPlan
There are six essential parts in the MBA Admissions process – grades, GMAT scores, interview, recommendation letters, resume (work experience), and… the ESSAYS! This last one is the place where you can shine, your experience comes out and you can truly demonstrate who you are. Admissions committees want to know about you, what added value you bring to the class, how you will work in teams and on your own. All this and more can be expressed through the MBA admissions essay.
Writing an MBA Essay requires you to bring forth all your astuteness, as you have to convince the admission officer as to why you so deserve selection and that you are not just any other student with a stand score. The very same thought is communicated in the article entitled ‘A Few Tips For Writing Strong MBA Essays’ in gmatcat.com, wherein the article state “Writing the essays really seems to be an exercise in marketing in the sense that the image that you communicate through your essays has to make you stand out from other candidates”
In short, your essay must reflect your personally and bring out how dynamic you are so that you really impress the person who reads it. So how do you really write out that outstanding essay? Let’s take a look.
– The first thing you need to do is look at your topic. What kind of topic is it? Is it a straightforward one or something complex? Once you done thing, you’ll know how much of research you have to put into it, what you need to bring out into the essay and how much time it would generally take. Deconstruct the question into smaller questions to ensure addressing every aspect the committee wants to learn more about.
– As you begin to collect your thoughts to put down the essay into paper, remember that you have to be original, but not bland. No one will feel like reading an essay that sounds like a boring lecture. You have to be creative and it’s how well you bring out a different approach that showcases your talents and your personality. According to the article ‘Top 10 Business School Essay Writing Tips’ in essayedge.com “You should certainly describe various aspects of your professional life–your leadership skills, your career trajectory, your triumph in the face of obstacles, and so on–but do so in language that is as accessible to your reader as it is to you”.
– Most often what students think best is to use complex words as it will make them seem knowledgeable and sophisticated. The reality is that only when you use such words in an appropriate context will they seem this way and not the other way round. Simple information written in a complex pattern isn’t intelligence, but showing off. Curb on this. “Admissions officers have to read hundreds of essays, and they must often skim”, ‘Top 10 Business School Essay Writing Tips’, essayedge.com.
– Actually this may sound a bit amazing, but admission officers will be looking mainly into the way your introduction intrigues them to push forward into the essay. You might have written an introduction when you started out, but think about changing this into something that’s interesting for the reader. Don’t give a boring summary of what’s ahead in the essay, instead write out in such a way that it motivates the reader to want to read what your essay as to say.
– As you write out your essay, maintain a logical flow of thought. This is important because it makes your essay understandable and also engaging. In the article ‘Essay Writing2’ on foreignmba.com, an admission officer states “If the first paragraph doesn’t fix my attention, like anyone I’m prone to skimming.”. So you have to keep this in mind while writing. Writing out a particular thought, experience or concept and then suddenly switching over to something else abruptly, and than taking a u-turn back to the first thought, may be different, but certainly not easy for the officer reading your essay. Essays with a proper flow of thought are easy-to-understand and bring out your personality in an impressive way, so follow on this point, while you write your paragraphs.
– Steer clear of conflicting opinions and also of bringing out yourself in a way more than you really ought to. In the article ‘Essay Writing2’ on foreignmba.com, an admission officer states “It is dangerous for a non-professional (especially a high school student) to attempt writing as though the essay will be presented at a professional conference.
– Finally the conclusion. The thing that students tend to do, when writing the conclusion is that they write out a summary of the essay, which is not what the reader wants as this is the part where you try to convince or impress them. Make your conclusion impressive by bring out the broader implications of the subject, use a quote that correctly points out to your argument’s strength, and link your conclusion to your it production to establish a balance in the thought process.
Remember to share your inner-self, be true to your values and passions and express yourself for who you are. Follow along these points and you can be sure of having a winning MBA Essay. Focus on bringing out your personality as one of the leader within yourself. According to Evan foster in essaysolutions.com “Top b-schools look for leaders and visionaries-people who are going to make a difference in the world.” What difference will you make in the MBA program you enter and in the world?