Short Essay Prompts: For the 2024-2025 application year, we have three short essay prompts that are required for first-time applicants:

1. Why are you pursuing an MBA? (150 words)

2. Describe your short-term and long-term post-MBA career goals. (150 words)

3. At Anderson, our mission is to prepare transformative leaders by developing students to think innovatively, problem-solve, and adapt to others – all with a driven and purposeful mindset. How do you plan to achieve your goals and develop into a transformative leader during your time at UCLA Anderson? (250 words)

Columbia University’s Supplemental Application Questions are your chance to showcase your intellectual curiosity, personal experiences, and unique perspectives beyond your academic achievements. These essays allow the admissions committee to get a fuller picture of who you are as a person and how you’ll contribute to Columbia’s vibrant community. While the answers should all represent aspect of you and your experiences, don't hesitate to throw in an answer that might surprise the adcom or throw them off balance a little bit. Be real but get their attention!

While each of the four short answers focuses on different aspects of your life, interests, values and aspirations, you can thread them together to create a multifaceted picture of yourself. Here’s how to approach each prompt while ensuring your values and interests shine consistently through your responses.

1. List a selection of texts, resources, and outlets that have contributed to your intellectual development outside of academic courses, including but not limited to books, journals, websites, podcasts, essays, plays, presentations, videos, museums, and other content that you enjoy. (100 words)

This is your opportunity to highlight what inspires you outside the classroom. Think about books that challenged your worldview, podcasts that sparked new hobbies, or documentaries that inspired you to take action. Aim for a diverse mix that showcases your intellectual curiosity, broad (or deep) interests, appreciation for different cultural media and fresh perspectives that challenge your own. You're not going to impress them by rattling off a "Great Books" list... it's got to be authentic to you. You don’t need to explain why you chose these items, but you might want to group them by theme, medium or interest area to give a sense of your intellectual trajectory.

2. A hallmark of the Columbia experience is being able to learn and thrive in an equitable and inclusive community with a wide range of perspectives. Tell us about an aspect of your own perspective, viewpoint, or lived experience that is important to you, and describe how it has shaped the way you would learn from and contribute to Columbia's diverse and collaborative community. (150 words)

In this response, dive into a personal aspect of your identity or experience that informs your values and beliefs about the kind of world you want to shape and live in. Perhaps it's your cultural background, a significant life event, or your activism. Share how this perspective has influenced your interactions with others and how it will enhance Columbia’s community. Don't just tell them you're open to different viewpoints... give them an example of the kind of community member you already are to help them understand how you'll help build to a collaborative and inclusive environment at Columbia.

A strong answer may include an initial tension... something or someone that made you question your worldview, or a challenging interpersonal experience that made you reconsider what it looks like for you to be an agent of equity and inclusivity. Be specific... platitudes about how you're really committed to fostering an inclusive environment—without any examples about how you're already doing this in the communities you're part of—may not be fully convincing.

3. In college/university, students are often challenged in ways that they could not predict or anticipate. It is important to us, therefore, to understand an applicant's ability to navigate through adversity. Please describe a barrier or obstacle you have faced and discuss the personal qualities, skills, or insights you have developed as a result. (150 words)

Here, focus on a specific challenge that had a meaningful impact on your life, perhaps one that informed your aspirations or values. This could range from personal struggles, academic setbacks, or broader life challenges. Describe the situation and—crucially—how you learned to navigate it. Highlight the skills or insights you gained from overcoming this obstacle, emphasizing resilience, adaptability, and growth. Make it clear how this experience prepares you for the unpredictability of college life—especially one in New York City!

Avoid clichés about challenges. Be genuine and introspective, as admissions officers appreciate authenticity. Don't try to sugarcoat the challenge... if it happened because you made a mistake, or acted out of integrity with your values, that's ok! The key thing here is that you learned from it and are stronger and wiser because of this obstacle.

4a. Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia. (150 words)

[For undeclared applicants] In this essay, go deep into specific elements that attract you to Columbia. This could be the Core Curriculum, the vibrant campus culture, unique programs, faculty or research opportunities. Your answer should not be equally true of other Ivy League universities. Think about how these unique aspects of the Columbia community and experience align with your values and goals. The takeaway here is that you + Columbia = match made in heaven... not you + [insert top tier university here]. What will you get from your Columbia experience that you couldn't get anywhere else?

4b. What attracts you to your preferred areas of study at Columbia College or Columbia Engineering? (150 words)

[For applicants declaring a major] You'll take a similar approach to the 'undeclared' (4a) prompt, but here you'll want to go from you and your interests, on to how you decided to pursue X major, and then you'll move onto how that specific program at Columbia specifically is the perfect match for your personality, interests, values and goals. (Did we mention you should be specific?)

Zoom out and take a holistic look. As you draft your responses, each answer should stand alone, but you should also consider them in the context of the other answers. While you don't want to hit the same note over and over—and we love a wildcard / surprise answer if you've got a zinger that still addresses the prompt! — you do want the answers to seem like they're credibly different sides of the same coin (it's a coin that has a bunch of sides... just roll with us here). Your intellectual influences (prompt 1) may subtly relate to the perspectives you share in prompt 2, reflecting consistent values like curiosity and resilience. Your experience overcoming adversity (prompt 3) might serve as a backdrop to your desire to thrive in Columbia's collaborative environment. Finally, ensure that your reasons for wanting to attend Columbia (prompt 4) tie back to your earlier narratives, painting a specific (in case you missed that before) picture of an authentic, unique person who is eager to learn and contribute.

Why are you pursuing an MBA and why now? How will the distinct Tuck MBA contribute to achieving your goals and aspirations? (300 words)

The 'Why MBA, Why Now, Why This Program?' essay prompt is a classic. You likely have worked out your 'Why MBA, Why Now' answer, but let's look at it through the lens of the Tuck admissions criteria. The Dartmouth Tuck Director of Admissions shares in this recent post that Prompt 1 maps onto the 'Aware' criterion.

Dartmouth wants to know that you understand what’s motivating your MBA decision and why this is the right moment for it. This is not just about progressing your career, but also about your desire to grow as a person and as a leader.

In case you don't have the first half of this essay ready to lift and shift from another application, let's talk about how to approach it:

• Reflect on your career journey: What experiences have shaped your professional life so far? Maybe you've hit a point where you realize you need broader skills to make an impact in your industry. Maybe you’ve noticed gaps in your knowledge around leadership, strategy, or innovation. Lay the groundwork by sharing your story authentically. The idea here is NOT to paint yourself as a perfect, fully-wrought leader—if you were, you wouldn't need an MBA! Show them that you know your strengths, and that your 'opportunity' areas will be supercharged by MBA magic—and then, there'll be no stopping you!
• Why now? MBA programs like Tuck want to see you've really put thought into this decision and are pursuing an MBA intentionally—not just because it seems better than the other options on the table right now. Whether you're planning a career pivot or looking to build your leadership capacity in your current industry, articulate why this moment is the perfect inflection point in your professional life to get that sweet MBA leadership infusion. Avoid platitudes like "I’ve always wanted to get an MBA"—instead, highlight how the timing aligns perfectly (nay, serendipitously!) with your current career trajectory and future ambitions.

OK so... why Tuck?

This answer is a key part of any MBA application, but we'd say it's particularly essential to nail it—convincingly—on the Tuck application. Why? Well... Tuck is a top MBA program, which is likely why you're applying. But... it's small... and it's in a small town in New Hampshire. UCLA it ain't! This is the part where detailed research on Tuck really pays off. Dartmouth doesn’t want to admit someone who’s just here because of the shiny ranking (though, let’s be honest, that helps). They want people who are genuinely excited about what Tuck specifically has to offer. Here’s how to show them you’re for real:

• Make it personal (in a professional way): You should have a pretty good idea of what makes Tuck Tuck by now. So, how does that connect to your goals? Are you excited about their leadership curriculum, or maybe Tuck’s famous community vibe? Whether it’s a specific course, a professor whose work you admire, or opportunities like TuckGO, highlight how Tuck aligns perfectly with what you need to take your career to the next level. There may be some things about Tuck that would make another applicant want to go to a different MBA program... if these things make you want Tuck even more, definitely include them, along with some personal details that make these claims credible. (You like the small, community feel, eh? Tell them about an experience in your career—or life—that's shown you that this kind of environment is THEE ideal learning/growth environment for you!)
• Show that you “get” Tuck’s culture: Tuck is known for its collaborative, inclusive, and supportive environment. If you’re someone who thrives on competition and individual success, that’s great—but this might not be the place to brag about it. Instead, show that you’re someone who wants to grow alongside others, values teamwork and diverse perspectives, and is ready to contribute to a tight-knit community. Tuck wants people who will enhance the culture, not just fit into it.

Show how it all hangs together.

Now that you’ve made it clear why you need an MBA now and why Tuck is the place to get it, you need to connect the dots. Here’s how to keep your essay tight:

Paint a clear picture of progression: Your essay should feel like a natural flow from where you are now to where you want to be. Start with your current role or experiences, explain the gaps in your skills or knowledge, and then show why Tuck is the perfect place to fill those gaps. Keep the story logical and compelling—no need for unnecessary detours.

Be specific, not vague: Don’t just say you want to “be a better leader” or “get more strategic.” Instead, mention specific things like Tuck’s leadership development opportunities or a class on sustainable business practices. Show that you know what Tuck offers and exactly how it’ll help you grow.

Dream big (but don’t overdo it): Tuck likes applicants with vision, so make sure you show some ambition. What kind of change do you want to drive in your industry or even the world? But keep it realistic—no need to promise you’re going to solve global warming single-handedly (unless, of course, that’s actually your plan).

At the end of the day, Tuck wants applicants who are AWARE of why they’re pursuing an MBA, why they’re doing it now, and why Tuck is the right fit. Your essay should reflect that. Dartmouth’s admissions team can spot when someone’s just listing off rankings and spitting out buzzwords, so be authentic and thoughtful. Do your homework on the school (visit if you can... if not, talk to current students and alums and mention these organically in your essay). Make sure you’re showing them that you’re not just a great MBA applicant—you’re a great Tuck applicant.

Tell us who you are. How have your values and experiences shaped your identity and character? How will your background contribute to the diverse Tuck culture and community? (300 words)

Let’s talk about Tuck’s second MBA essay: It's an open invitation to showcase your authentic self. But, to nail it, you’ve got to do more than just talk about your life story—you've gotta connect it with what Tuck truly cares about.

So, Who Are You, Really?

Tuck is looking for people who align with its values—smart, encouraging, accomplished, and aware. So take so time to jot down your thoughts about how your values fit into this framework. For example:

• Smart: Maybe you've tackled some tough academic or professional challenges—and definitely highlight those on your application somewhere—but equally importantly, you’re eager to keep learning and finding new and innovative ways of working. The “I don’t know it all” mindset is golden at Tuck, where curiosity and growth are emphasized.
• Encouraging: Sounds simple, but being nice is core to Tuck’s DNA. If you’ve got a track record of helping others, this is the place to talk about it. Tuck thrives on a culture of genuine kindness, inclusivity and support.
• Accomplished: Sure, you’ve had successes—but what did they teach you? Show how your experiences have made you a better leader, teammate, or decision-maker.
• Aware: What drives you? Show that you know what matters most in life, and how those values shape your actions.

Reflect on Your Values and Experiences

This is the time to get introspective. What values have defined you? Maybe it's a commitment to social justice, or a belief in the power of collaboration. Now, how did these beliefs develop? Was it a family experience? A challenge you faced? Whatever it is, explain how these values shaped your identity and character.

Pro tip: Don't just tell Tuck what you value, show them through examples. Instead of saying, "I value teamwork," tell a story about a time when teamwork made all the difference.

Connect to Tuck's Community and Culture

Tuck's small, close-knit community is its superpower. Everyone lives on or near campus, meaning you’ll be deep in the Tuck bubble. You’re not just a student—you’re part of a team. How will your background enhance that environment? Maybe your global perspective or unique life experiences will help classmates see things differently. Or, perhaps your leadership style fits right into Tuck's emphasis on collaborative, inclusive leadership and creating trust-based relationships. Make sure that you don't paint yourself in a savior role in your stories around inclusivity and culturally-aware leadership—being willing to learn and also understanding the unique value you bring to the table are essential.

Your essay should show you’ve done your homework on Tuck. You’re applying because you want to be a part of this community, not just any MBA program. Be specific! Reference Tuck’s core values and culture—things like how the program fosters an inclusive, empathetic environment or how it emphasizes immersive experiences like First-Year Projects and TuckGO trips. Talk about how your experiences and personality will help create the kind of tight-knit community Tuck is known for.

Be Honest and Authentic

Tuck values authenticity, so resist the temptation to tell them what you think they want to hear. This essay isn’t a place to brag; it’s a place to be real. Sure, showcase your accomplishments, but the focus should be on who you are rather than just a list of achievements. Share the parts of your identity that matter most, and be willing to let your true self shine through.

The goal of this essay is to make it clear that Tuck is where you belong, not just because it’s a top MBA program, but because it’s the right fit. So, show Tuck who you are, how your values and experiences have shaped you, and how you’ll help enrich its uniquely collaborative and values-driven community. Tuck’s all about finding smart, nice, accomplished, and aware people, so show them that’s you to a T(uck)!

Describe a time you meaningfully contributed to someone else’s sense of inclusion in your professional or personal community. (300 words)

Tuck’s focus on inclusivity runs deep, and with this essay, they want to see that you’re not just aware of inclusion, but that you actively work to foster it. Let’s break down how to approach this.

Think About What "Inclusion" Really Means

When Tuck talks about inclusion, they’re talking about more than just diversity in the workplace or in life. It’s about creating environments where people feel heard, respected, and like they truly belong. This is a key part of Tuck’s own community—collaborative, supportive, and welcoming—so it makes sense that they want to bring in people who’ve already demonstrated these values in action.

Think back on your experiences. When have you gone out of your way to help someone feel part of the team or community? Maybe it was in your workplace, or maybe it was something personal. The key is that you didn’t just talk about inclusion, you did something to make it real for someone else.

Now take this list, and keep in mind our advice from the last Tuck essay... now is NOT the time to paint yourself as a savior. When you think back on these experiences, were there moments where you realized you didn't know how to take the right action to build inclusivity? What did you do to seek out that information? How did you put it into action? Were there difficult trade-offs that you had to make to take this action?

The goal here is NOT to show them that you've never been 'problematic'. If someone gave you feedback that your behavior was not creating an inclusive environment, and you non-defensively took this feedback to heart, educated yourself, then put those new learnings into action, this is the stuff of a great essay.

Focus on the How

Inclusion doesn’t just happen—it takes knowledge, understanding, effort and empathy. Your essay should focus on the how of your contribution. What steps did you take? Did you make someone feel more comfortable by simply taking the time to listen? Did you help smooth over a misunderstanding? Maybe you took it upon yourself to change a process or dynamic that was unintentionally excluding people.

This is where you really get to showcase your interpersonal skills. Tuck values people who are not only aware of others’ perspectives but are also proactive in making their environments more welcoming. So, highlight the practical actions you took and the reasoning behind them. If you had to align others—who were maybe dubious about this change—to your plan, show how you did so.

Show the Impact

This essay isn’t just about your good intentions—it’s about the results. How did your actions make a difference? Maybe the person you helped became more confident or was able to contribute more meaningfully to the group. Or perhaps your actions had a ripple effect, inspiring others to step up and create an even more inclusive environment.

Be specific about the positive outcomes. If there were long-term changes (like a new process or policy at work) or lasting impacts on the person or community, make sure to mention that. Tuck wants to see that you’re capable of making meaningful, lasting contributions to the environments you’re in.

Tie It Back to Tuck’s Values

As always, you want to connect your story to Tuck’s values. Tuck is a community-driven MBA program, where collaboration and inclusivity are core to the experience. When you talk about your contributions to inclusion, emphasize how these actions align with what Tuck stands for: fostering an environment where everyone feels welcome and empowered. (You don't need to make this essay about Tuck explicitly... just make sure your values and Tuck's line up.)

Inclusion is a big deal at Tuck, and this essay is your chance to show that you walk your talk. By choosing a strong example, explaining how you made a difference, and tying it back to Tuck’s community and values, you’ll craft an essay that highlights your ability to contribute to one of the most important aspects of their program.

Remember, the key is to be authentic and specific. Tuck doesn’t want to hear about a hypothetical situation or a general desire to act in an inclusive way—they want to know about you and how you’ve already made a difference in fostering inclusion.

All reapplicants must respond to an additional essay prompt:

How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally. (300 words)

This is a typical re-applicant essay – a nice, specific question about updates on short-term and long-term career goals. It’s important to keep in mind when addressing this piece that it’s not just about the matter-of-fact update itself… we also need to assess the IMPROVEMENT you’ve pulled off.

In other words, one year later, your career plan has to become sharper or more plausible, or more exciting in some way. We need to understand HOW. And WHY. That’s the key: a crystal clear explanation of how your candidacy has improved and what it means given your (new and improved) reasons for getting an MBA. Take a deeper dive into our analysis below:

The Re-applicant Essay

You can also read through our team’s analysis of the rest of Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA application essays.

Learn more and explore each step of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business full-time MBA application process here.

Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere (e.g., atypical choice of references, factors affecting academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application. (300 words)

Read our team’s complete take on the idea of the optional essay, including a brief (recent) history of b-schools’ relationship with it, and how our recommendations have evolved over the years, right here.

You can also read through our team’s analysis of the rest of Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA application essays.

Learn more and explore each step of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business full-time MBA application process here.

Optional Essay: No preference is given in the evaluation process to those who choose to respond to this optional essay, so please use your best judgment:

Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions committee should be aware? (250 words maximum)

Read our team’s complete take on the idea of optional essay, including a brief (recent) history of b-schools’ relationship with it, and how our recommendations have evolved over the years, right here.

You can also read through our team’s analysis of the rest of UCLA Anderson School of Management’s application essays here.

Learn more and explore each step of the UCLA Anderson School of Management MBA application process here.

Preparing for this unknowable-until-you-know prompt is actually a tremendous skill-building opportunity for your entire MBA application journey. You will inevitably develop an intimate understanding of who you are, where you’re headed, why you need an MBA now, and how you’ll benefit from the offerings of a particular program given who you are. Which, at the end of the day, is the key to a successful admissions campaign. As you engage with these questions, you should start to see how they connect, and represent facets of the same diamond. If you prepare thoughtfully, you’ll minimize the potentiality to be ‘thrown’ by a curveball question. How? By understanding fundamentally what your story is, and what your goals are, you’ll simultaneously develop an understanding of the needs of the other person in this relationship, and what they need from you. Think about asking an investor for money. You may have a fantastic pitch that makes sense to you. But until that pitch fulfills a need for ‘the other person,’ it’s incomplete. MBA programs are looking to ‘invest’ in future successes, period, end of story. They want wins. And they are tasked with screening hundreds (often thousands) of typically overqualified, impressive applicants, to determine who among these are the folks: 

1. Most likely to succeed
2. In the biggest and best ways that align with the ‘brand’ interests of the school, and also 
3. Who, when introduced to other classmates whom we’ve selected, are likely to add fuel to their fire (and benefit from the same)

So, back to that idea of how smart preparation can make you ‘curveball-proof’: when you understand their incentives, you can quickly interpret ANY question to find the ‘but what are they really asking about here’ element. Every single question they’ll throw at you is in some way designed to give them more information about those three bullets above. The more you understand the connective tissue between your work history, your academic history, your skills, your goals, your motivation for pursuing an MBA, your strengths, your weaknesses… you can instantly ‘see through’ any question to locate the NERVE CENTER of the best answer in your repertoire of stories (that all interconnect), to answer the question in the most efficient way to highlight the precise ‘features’ that burnish your credentials as they relate to those three bullets above. Before we say more, let’s go through the general ‘categories’ of questions you’re likely to encounter, aka, questions that Sloan may ask, seeking insight into those three bullets:

1. Work History - ‘Interpretation’ - Show us the ‘provers’ that you have experience, you’ve ‘done’ things, led things, understand business concepts from actions. Are you just a talker, or have you walked the talk?
2. Fit / Contribution to the School - ‘Interpretation’ - Will you add value to others? If so, how? Why should we believe you? Can we picture it? Do you understand how a rigorous MBA program works, such that you have confidence in your ability to succeed? Where did you develop that understanding? Will you be ready on Day 1? Where in your past is there evidence of collaboration with others? Have you navigated tricky personalities and situations? Is there evidence that you are capable of self-examination? Are you coachable? Are you humble?
3. Maturity / Emotional Control / Self-Confidence - ‘Interpretation’ - Can you provide evidence that you have not just the intellectual but emotional fitness to thrive in a cutthroat business environment? Can you provide evidence both through anecdotes but are you also able to model this in your response itself, through your choice of words, your body language, the way you talk about others, reflect on your shortcomings, as well as your strengths.
4. Achievement / Goal-Orientation / Behavioral - ‘Interpretation’ - Have you critically examined situations in your past as they’ve occurred, such that you’re able to recall specific examples readily? Have you engaged with your goals carefully enough to be able to articulate them clearly without searching? Have you encountered challenges and grappled with them thoughtfully? If so, you’ll be able to pinpoint moments readily for when you’ve been on unsure ground, vulnerable, questioning, energized, off-balance, etc. When you’ve achieved things, have you considered why? Either in terms of the surrounding conditions and/or what you specifically brought to the table?
5. Interpersonal Skills - ‘Interpretation’ - How do you relate to others? How do you relate to others whom you don’t know, and under conditions that are either sub-optimal, not within your control? What happens when you meet others who are willful, equally (or more) talented and experienced? Can you convince us that you are able not only to stand your ground, but also learn from, or add value to, others? Do you seem like someone others would want to collaborate with? Is there evidence that you’re mindful of how others think, feel, and operate?
6. Why MBA / Why Our School? - ‘Interpretation’ - Have you grappled closely enough with why you need an MBA specifically, such that we believe you will therefore know exactly how to extract the most from an opportunity like this? Or are you someone who is following the crowd, and only looking to add this credential to your resume? Does your knowledge of {This Specific School} specifically suggest a type of forward-thinking and proactive planning that implies something about how you approach any and all ‘problems’? Does your sense of why you might connect with {This Specific School} give us the impression that you’re the type of person who, when presented with an opportunity or challenge, ‘does their homework’ to the point where we have high confidence that you will succeed no matter what is thrown your way?

When you wrestle with the ‘but what are they really asking though and why’ dimension to this, you’ll develop an ‘instant translator’ muscle that will allow you to hear a question (any question), and swiftly understand what they’re looking for, such that you can formulate a response that will satisfy with maximum impact. Take a scan through other common questions:

• What is an interesting project you worked on during an internship?
• Tell us about a time you failed, what did you do and what did you learn from it?
• Tell us about a time when you had to lead communications in a crisis
• What are your short-term and long-term career goals?
• Why do you need an MBA education?
• Why do you need an MBA education now, specifically?
• Why are you pursuing {This Specific School} specifically?
• Tell us about your career path to date. What were the important junctures?
• What have been your 2 most important activities outside of work and school?
• What makes you unique among applicants?
• How do you handle giving and receiving feedback?
• Tell me about a time when someone gave you less than positive feedback.
• What is the greatest hurdle you have overcome, either personally or professionally, and how did you manage the process?
• Tell me about a time when you exhibited initiative?
• What role has mentoring played in your professional relationships?
• Tell me about your greatest accomplishment. How did you achieve it? Why is it meaningful? 
• What characteristics do you have that help you the most in getting along with other people? How do you know this about yourself? 
• Compare the most effective supervisor you've had with the least effective.
• Within your company, what skills do you see MBA's exhibit that others may not? 
• What would you like to be doing next summer as an intern?

For each of these (and any other commonly-asked questions you’re like to see in an MBA interview, easily Google-able), don’t just listen to the stated question, ask yourself “why are they asking this” and “what are they really asking about” keeping in mind everything we’ve been discussing above.

There’s no such thing as too much practice here, other than to the point where you seem overly rehearsed. The aim of ‘more’ and ‘too much’ practice is, in fact, to ensure that you will seem not-at-all rehearsed, because you’ve notched the muscle memory to understand questions at a root-level and therefore no longer need to rely on scripted responses (which are only useful when you LACK that level of understanding). Ask yourself these questions (or, if you’re a client you can of course use our interview tool to help simulate it), and time your responses, and record them, and then study your responses as objectively as you can (or have someone experienced give you feedback). Do it again, and again. Create flashcards if you aren’t a client and don’t have access to a tool (use your phone, whatever). Practice at stop lights when you’re driving, or while you’re on a walk, or cooking. Treat it the same way you would with essay writing. Let your answers go long initially. Ramble if you have you, to ‘find’ possible avenues. Listen, hear it and feel it when you ‘accidentally’ say something that’s solid. Figure out how to say something in one sentence that took you… three, that you’d loaded with ums and ahs. Do it again, crisply, feel the way that feels. Change the question and category, do it sloppily first. Do it again, but this time with a tight time restriction. Do it again. And again. Change it up. Eventually, something will start to shift and you’ll start to ‘get a feel’ for how this whole thing works. You’ll feel like Neo at the end of The Matrix. And if you haven’t seen that movie yet, I mean, there’s only so much we can do for you, you feel us?

Good luck!

The UC system has their own approach to the college application, and they give a lot of advice on their essay webpage. You always want to heed the direct, official advice of an adcom. To that end, we’re going to share the upfront advice and prompts from UC, and share our Admissionado insights as we go along. Anything in italics is the Admissionado angle; anything in roman (non-italicized) is from the University of California admissions webpage.

Personal insight questions

Imagine UC was a person. If we met face-to-face, what would you want us to know about you? These personal insight questions allow you to tell us. You could write about your creative side. Your thoughts on leadership. A challenge you’ve faced. Whatever questions you answer, make sure you show us your personality—just as you would in real life.

Admissionado angle: The strategy here is not simply to pick your four best standalone essay topics from all your possible responses to the prompts. Rather, your goal should be for the sum of your four personal insight questions to give the best, most well-rounded, impressive and intriguing picture of you. If you’re a nationally-lauded concert violinist, that’s AMAZING!—while this may be your crowning achievement, you should still only write ONE essay on the topic. 

After you’ve done the initial brainstorming for each potential prompt, circle back and consider, which one shows your intellectually curious side? Your creative side? Your commitment to community and service? Something that they totally didn’t expect? While you do want the picture of you to be complete, it doesn’t—in fact, it shouldn’t—be predictable. Don’t underestimate the power of a great wildcard—that ‘you’d never guess from the rest of my application, but I…’ story. 

Directions

• You will have 8 questions to choose from. You must respond to only 4 of the 8 questions.
• Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.
• Which questions you choose to answer is entirely up to you. However, you should select questions that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances.

Admissionado angle: on the topic of choosing questions (& answers) that are most relevant to your personal experience, we recommend favoring stories where you did something that other people observed. Stories that involve your observable actions will almost always be harder-hitting than stories of the ‘I was sitting alone in my room, and had a revelation about XYZ, and now I think about ABC totally differently’ genre. Often those of the latter category can feel a bit made up, or like you don’t have any stories that demonstrate meaningful impact. If you know you’ve got a stellar story of this reflection-driven ilk—you know yourself best! No two stories are alike, so our generalizations are just that… generalizations. 

Keep in mind

• All questions are equal. All are given equal consideration in the application review process, which means there is no advantage or disadvantage to choosing certain questions over others.
• There is no right or wrong way to answer these questions. It’s about getting to know your personality, background, interests and achievements in your own unique voice.  
• Use the additional comments field if there are issues you'd like to address that you didn't have the opportunity to discuss elsewhere on the application. This shouldn't be an essay, but rather a place to note unusual circumstances or anything that might be unclear in other parts of the application. 

Admissionado angle: do heed their advice not to turn the additional comments field into another essay. This space is largely to address concerns that might arise from reading your overall application, were someone to read your application without additional context. This is the space for that context. If your grades suffered during the pandemic because you needed to do additional caregiving for family members, or there’s a language or economic context that would help address certain ‘gaps’ in your application, don’t hesitate to share them. Don’t worry that somehow stating these facts is asking for special consideration or treatment—it’s an opportunity for you to help the adcom assess applicants by understanding the contexts they’re applying from.

Questions & guidance

Remember, the personal insight questions are just that—personal. Which means you should use our guidance for each question just as a suggestion in case you need help. The important thing is expressing who you are, what matters to you and what you want to share with UC. 

1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.

Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn't necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?

Admissionado angle: do take the adcom at their word when they say that this doesn’t need to be a school activity. For many of you, your most meaningful leadership experience to date might NOT be leading a school club (even for those of you that DID lead a school club). Another way to approach brainstorming this prompt is to ask yourself, ‘where have I had the most responsibility in my life?’

Write down a couple of options and once you’ve got a bit of brainstorming done for each prompt, come back and see if your best option here complements your other best options. For instance, if you tell a family leadership story or a church leadership story here, that’s great, and then you want your best answers to other questions to be NOT a family story, or a church story, etc. 

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?

How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career?

Admissionado angle: there are a lot of questions nested in this one question, and you don’t have to answer every single one of them. You only have 350 words, after all. DO come back to all the little questions once you have a first draft, but for starters, work on two key components: 1) where does your creativity manifest in your life? 2) What is the broader impact of your creativity on your current life & plans for the future (college & career)? You can make non-obvious connections here–in fact, that’s great! If your process as a painter / cartoonist informs how you (creatively) approach interpersonal relationships, amazing, make that connection! Don’t get hung up on what creativity looks like… you don’t have to be a capital-A Artist to write an amazing essay on your creativity!

In, let’s say, at least two of the questions, you want to explicitly pull the ‘so what?’ of your essay into what you’ll bring to college (and UC specifically), both as an academic student and community member. Touch on it in as many essays as you can without it feeling forced or redundant, but make sure you work it into two (or at least one really solid one) thoroughly.

3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Things to consider: If there is a talent or skill that you're proud of, this is the time to share it.You don't necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about it, feel free to do so). Why is this talent or skill meaningful to you?

Does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent? Does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom? If so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule?

Admissionado angle: once again, do stick to the prompt and ALSO don’t get stuck in narrow ideals of what a talent or skill is. If you’re excellent at defusing conflict and finding common ground in difficult conversations, that’s ABSOLUTELY a skill—and an amazing one, at that!

List your greatest skills/talents, and next to each, write 1) why it’s meaningful; 2) how you came by this skill; and 3) the broader impact of this skill and practice on your life. For instance, if you learned how not to give up through the challenges of training as an aerial artist, and this has inspired you to take difficult APs, definitely highlight that! Don’t try to make connections that aren’t there, but DO think about the broader ramifications of your expertise and training in this area, whether it’s a relatively specialized skill (e.g., tap dancing) or a broader life skill (e.g., finding common ground in tough conversations). In both cases, you want to be specific about what you DO, how you learned this skill, and how it impacts you elsewhere in life (including how it will inform how you show up to college). 

4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that's geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you; just to name a few.

If you choose to write about educational barriers you've faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who you are today?

Admissionado angle: do not fall prey to the notion that discussing an educational barrier or challenge is a sign of lower achievement! Showing how you overcome a challenge or didn’t back down at the sight of a barrier is an incredible opportunity to show strength.

If you’ve had a lot of education opportunities, highlight one specific opportunity but focus on how YOU took advantage of it. If you were handed all sorts of things and then just basically showed up, that doesn’t really fit the prompt. Find an opportunity where YOU took initiative to really make the most of an opportunity. You can acknowledge your fortune in having access to this opportunity without turning the short essay into a 350-word exercise in privilege-checking. Focus on what YOU DID. 

On the flip side, if you’re focusing on an educational barrier, focus on what YOU DID to overcome a SPECIFIC barrier. If this barrier is systemic, it’s absolutely valid to include that in your essay, but still keep the focus on YOU and your actions. If you do feel that a broader discussion of how systemic barriers or dynamics might impact the perception of certain aspects of your application, we’d recommend that you flesh out those dynamics in the ‘optional information’ section. 

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you've faced and what you've learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you're currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends or with my family?

Admissionado angle: write a list of major challenges you’ve faced, then next to each, make a note of what you learned from that experience, and where else you’ve applied that learning. 

If you’re able to make a connection, a challenge you faced in one realm (say, family) can absolutely impact how you show up as a student at school. If the connections feel authentic to you, we encourage you to draw connections across different areas of your life. 

You don’t need to get hung up on the language of ‘overcoming’ the challenge. Some challenges can’t really be overcome, yet you can still find courage to change the things you can. If you’re talking about a personal challenge—say, the loss of a close friend or family member—don’t feel pressure to tie it up in a neat little bow and explain how you overcame it and now everything’s just dandy. Outline what happened then focus on what you did, what you learned, and how that informs the way you show up in class and beyond. 

6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

Things to consider: Many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can't get enough of. If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs and what you have gained from your involvement.

Has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or future career? Have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, AP, IB, college or university work)? Are you inspired to pursue this subject further at UC, and how might you do that?

Admissionado angle: your main focus in this question should not be just what can be gleaned from your transcript. Like UC’s advice says, do mention any advanced coursework or additional opportunities you’ve pursued, but the idea here is to show that you have a passion for learning. This is the passion that will keep you achieving even after you’ve gotten into college, and you don’t have your parents breathing down your neck to get a certain GPA. 

Write down any subjects or areas of study that you have a sincere passion for. Note all of the ways that you’ve pursued this passion, and how it informs what you hope to do at college and/or in your career. If you’ve got a real passion for a certain subject AND you have some interesting and impressive stories about how you’ve pursued that passion—great! That’s a contender for feature in your final set of answers. If nothing gels here, you’ve got plenty of other questions to choose from. 

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place like your high school, hometown or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community?

Admissionado angle: once again, do construe ‘community’ as broadly as makes sense for you. It does not have to be a titled or clearly delineated community—just a group of people that you’re a member of that has some sort of shared goal, belief or activity. 

So go ahead and list the communities that you’re a part of (including your school… then feel free to break that down into student groups or clubs as well). List any ACTIONS YOU’VE TAKEN to make each community a better place. A great answer here will include an outline of the community and what it means to you, a need for change you identified, specific actions you took (alone or with others), and a marked impact. Again, specific action is really key. Showing up and keeping the vibe good is indeed important, but it’s not really grounds for an admissions essay. 

8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

Things to consider: If there's anything you want us to know about you but didn't find a question or place in the application to tell us, now's your chance. What have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better?

From your point of view, what do you feel makes you an excellent choice for UC? Don't be afraid to brag a little.

Admissionado angle: if there’s something you need to tell them but haven’t, this is your moment! This can be about you—a key thing you’ve done that’s important to you but hasn’t gotten a mention yet—or it can be about the magic that you and UC will create together! They’re asking why you’re a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California… not ‘to any top college’. Are there any particular programs, departments, communities, etc. that you’re REALLY excited about at UC? Something that you really can’t find in the same way anywhere else? This is your chance to convince them that YOU are someone who can really take advantage of all UC has to offer. 

Even if you want to talk about your interest in X & Y programs, do center yourself and what you’ve done to date that makes your stated interest—and future success in pursuing this interest—credible. If you say you’re really interested in studying Field A at UC but have never really done anything that would indicate real interest in Field A, the claim can feel a little flimsy. 

Use this opportunity if it gives you space you need; or, if one of your brainstorming ideas for one of their scripted prompts was really great but diverged a bit from the prompt, it can go here! But always tie it back to why you + UC = magic. 

We’ll let the UC adcom take you out with some final advice—do pay attention!

When choosing your questions, we suggest brainstorming a couple of possible topics that you could write about for each one and from there, selecting the answers that you believe to be the strongest. You should take this opportunity to give the admission committees a complete, coherent picture of who you are, so choose questions that will allow you to share a diverse range of experiences that demonstrate significant growth.

To help you get started, the University of California has provided you with Things to Consider, questions and food for thought for each question. Read this advice carefully and use their questions and guidance as a part of this brainstorming exercise.

Maximize the Word Count  

With only 350 words to answer each question, your writing must be both impactful and concise. So don’t generalize, try to fit in a million ideas, or write about anyone other than yourself. We can’t emphasize this enough: do not waste time telling a story about someone else. You should devote all 350 words to describing YOUR experiences. The directions actually specifically say to use “I” and “my” in your responses.

Something else to consider when answering these questions is to SHOW rather than TELL. If you’ve worked with us or read any of our application guides before, this shouldn’t be anything new. Each response should use detailed and vivid language that paints a clear picture of who you are, and in some cases make us feel like we’re right there with you. Saying, “I grew tremendously from this leadership experience or educational opportunity or challenge” doesn’t really say much. You have to show, through specific examples, HOW you grew tremendously. What did you learn about being a leader? What about your perspective changed? How do you approach obstacles differently now as a result of overcoming this challenge? These are the sorts of questions you should be asking yourself.

Demonstrate Growth

Through the stories you choose to tell, you should demonstrate a certain maturity and ability to introspect. The admissions committee is looking for students who are creative and critical thinkers. Chances are the experiences that you will be writing about will be very similar to those that other students are writing about, and that’s okay! What’s MORE important is that your take on this experience, or your lens as we like to call it, is unique. What unusual (and compelling) ideas and perspective can you offer? Ideally, all four of your answers should demonstrate some form of intellectual and personal growth.

To recap,

Choose your questions carefully. You should answer the four questions that will reflect your “greatest hits,” so to speak. Not the questions that you think the admissions committee wants to hear.

Maximize the word count by presenting clear, concise and compelling ideas that are all about YOUR experiences.

Demonstrate growth, maturity and a unique perspective.

Question 1 (Required)

How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.

Ah, the good ol’ ‘why this school?’ prompt! It might feel like you can rinse and repeat this essay for different schools, but we’d strongly caution against that! While, sure, some pieces might be consistent for you across schools—say, the major you plan to apply to and how you want to translate that into a career—UChicago wants you to articulate not only what you will study at Chicago and where you’ll go after, but how the University of Chicago and you together would have magical synergies that attending another school wouldn’t provide in the same way.

Yes, the U of C is an elite and prestigious school, but it’s not for everybody. The question is not just ‘are you smart enough?’ but ‘are you nerdy enough?’ Do you spend time after your BC calc or Medieval History course geeking out on the topic with that friend that totally gets you? (Maybe that friend is your teacher??) If so, read on! If your idea of the ultimate collegiate experience involves big football games that the whole school attends in school colors and facepaint… you may wish to look elsewhere. The academic rigor of the University of Chicago has earned it the moniker ‘the place where fun goes to die’ among students. While students might spend more time in the library at U of C than at peer institutions, this is likely less about UChicago having more coursework than those other institutions, than it is about UChicago being home to the highest per capita rate of students who consider discussing Foucault on a Friday night ‘fun’. (Facts!)

To be clear, the people who pick UChicago LOVE UChicago. They’re finally in a place with peers who can match their geek freak. Something about that notion, that folks who end up there are the U of C type, is core to the school’s identity. So, when you’re identifying aspects of the University of Chicago that attract you, there are two ways to go about it:

1. Identify things about the ‘learning’ and ‘community’ at UChicago that other candidates might rather AVOID (aspects of the school that might cause these other candidates to prefer a different elite university). Then explain why you’re actually THRILLED about these things, and how they align with your future goals.
2. Find things that only exist at U of C and nowhere else—or things whose UChicago version is somehow unique—and as such, align better with your desires for your ‘learning, community and future’ than other schools’ versions. Again, there may be an element here of ‘others might want to avoid these quirks, but they’re what make me WANT to go to the University of Chicago’.

Again, pay attention to their language in the prompt: ‘How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.’

Let’s break this down. They say, ‘learning, community and future’; they’re looking for a through-line from your ideal college experience to your ideal post-college life. This through-line can center your intended major -> career trajectory, but it doesn’t have to. Maybe you really want to study public policy in the best public policy department, and UChicago Harris has XYZ features that align perfectly with the change you want to be in the world. But the through-line could also be… U of C Professor Martha Nussbaum’s takedown of Judith Butler totally opened your eyes to the ‘hip defeatism’ at your school, and you realized you needed to reframe your entire approach to activism going forward in your life, and want to be in an intellectual environment that feels more ideologically diverse to you than all those lefty left schools out there. 

Make sure your answer wouldn’t be equally true of any peer institution OR any student with equivalent ‘stats’, quantitatively. The question is ‘Why UChicago?’ and not ‘Why elite institutions?’ Otherwise, your unique fit for this school won’t be clear. 

While there’s no word limit, the UChicago Admissions FAQ page suggests that 300-600 words is a good ballpark. Wherever your word count nets out, make sure you’re still editing these essays as rigorously as ones that do cap the word count. 

Question 2: Extended Essay (Required; Choose one)

The Extended Essay—formerly called ‘The Uncommon Essay’, back when the UChicago application was ‘The Uncommon Application’—is another example of UChicago being idiosyncratic. It’s an invitation for you to showcase your creativity, your own idiosyncrasies, and your unique voice. Again no word limit, but the U of C FAQ page says that 500-700 is a good benchmark.

While you want to think and write a bit outside the box for this one, you still should connect the essay back to your experience, interests, etc. It’s an opportunity to showcase your creative writing, yes, but we generally advise you take any opportunity to tell a school more about the amazing things you’ve done, experienced and are. In this case, the lens of this essay may be a bit unconventional, but it should still reflect you.

There’s no right way to approach these. Our recommendation is that you do a bit of brainstorming on each of the prescribed essay options (1-5). Then go back and see which option(s) most tickles you creatively AND most clearly connects to your experiences, plans and/or values. Draft that essay with the prompt’s exact language in mind, but if the content ‘wants’ to take you in a different direction, you can leverage Option 6 (choose your own adventure / topic of your choice). 

We’ll share our thoughts below each option, but keep in mind that these are NOT hard-and-fast rules. If your coolest essay flies in the face of our general guidelines, you do you, friend!—that’s the point of this essay, after all. Our one full-throated piece of advice is, don’t let the unconventional prompts fool you into thinking that structureless and untethered musings cut the mustard. The structure doesn’t need to look like a classic 5-paragraph essay you’d write for school, but the essay needs to be considered, crafted and edited. 

Essay Option 1

We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents.

– Inspired by Ramsey Bottorff, Class of 2026

Synaesthetes to the front! (Seriously, though, if this is you, go to town!)

Write a list of idioms that include color, then next to each, free-associate about any other colors that would give a particular meaning to the phrase. Have fun with the exercise. Once you’ve done some free-writing for each option, come back and see how these (could) connect back to you, compared to the other essay options. 

Essay Option 2

"Ah, but I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now” – Bob Dylan. In what ways do we become younger as we get older?

– Inspired by Joshua Harris, Class of 2016

OK, so, a word of caution here—while we don’t doubt that your experience on this earth to date has been complex, layered and ever-evolving, keep in mind that the average age of adcom officers is likely 20 years north of your age. If you write the essay from your own perspective as a teen but unironically affect the gravitas of an octogenarian’s retrospection… it might sound a little presumptuous. Point is—as Cat Stevens said—‘you’re still young, that’s your fault, there’s so much you have to go through.’ (If you don’t know who Cat Stevens is, you’re just proving our point here.) You still have a lot of aging to do. To be fair, we acknowledge that some people go through experiences at a young age that make them grow up a lot faster than their peers. If this is your experience, that’s totally fair game. 

That said, the essay doesn’t ask about how YOU’VE gotten younger as you’ve aged. You can reflect on aging you’ve observed around you. 

Looking back on your life, what can you honestly say has changed as you’ve aged? What has changed as those around you have aged? Make a list. See if any notable observations can be framed as a sort of getting younger. Free-write and see if there’s an interesting concept to unpack that’s personal to you in some way. 

Essay Option 3

Pluto, the demoted planet. Ophiuchus, the thirteenth Zodiac. Andy Murray, the fourth to tennis's Big Three. Every grouping has something that doesn’t quite fit in. Tell us about a group and its unofficial member, why (or why not) should it be excluded?

– Inspired by Veronica Chang, Class of 2022

For this one, make a list of ‘unofficial members’ and their associated groups that you have some feeling of connection to (emotionally, intellectually, practically, or otherwise). If you’ve got some very specific areas of interest and/or research, and a related answer pops to mind here, this may be an opportunity for you to geek out in a way that shows your genuine passion for learning. 

Remember, you need to make the case of WHY this excluded member should or shouldn’t be included… if you go this route, your POV shouldn’t just be the generally accepted rationale. Either ‘everyone things it shouldn’t be included but I think it SHOULD(!!) because XYZ’, OR ‘everything thinks it should be excluded because XYZ but REALLY it should be excluded because ABC!’ Don’t say something just to get a rise out of the audience… this one should be something you actually have a real opinion on.

Essay Option 4

"Daddy-o", "Far Out", "Gnarly": the list of slang terms goes on and on. Sadly, most of these aren’t so "fly" anymore – “as if!” Name an outdated slang from any decade or language that you'd bring back and explain why you totally “dig it.”

– Inspired by Napat Sakdibhornssup, Class of 2028

Those of us who were alive and watching MTV in the 90s feel personally attacked by this prompt’s implication that the slang of our youth is somehow outdated. (Or even the implication that we’re not ‘youths’ anymore—how dare! We’re pretty sure Y2K just happened a few months ago and Clueless was recently released.) BUT we can set this aside in the interest of helping you craft an awesome essay. 

Once again, start with a list. Whichever outdated slang words come to mind… maybe you have a personal association with them (e.g., your parent or other adult might have used it or talked about how it was used ‘back in the day’)... maybe not. Of those list items you like, jot down what they’d help you express if they were still in use, and why you’d bring them back. 

Remember, the prompt is about a word or phrase you LOVE and would bring back. It’s not an open referendum on old slang. A lot of old slang has not aged well, and plenty could be (and surely has been) written on why we’re better off without these words and phrases in common parlance today. While this may be an essay worth writing, it doesn’t answer this particular prompt. (Remember, you’ve always got Option 6 if any of prompts 1-5 lead you to an awesome topic that’s tangentially related.)

Essay Option 5

How many piano tuners are there in Chicago? What is the total length of chalk used by UChicago professors in a year? How many pages of books are in the Regenstein Library? These questions are among a class of estimation problems named after University of Chicago physicist Enrico Fermi. Create your own Fermi estimation problem, give it your best answer, and show us how you got there.

– Inspired by Malhar Manek, Class of 2028

Alright, for this last scripted prompt, jot down anything in your life or the world around you where the quantity just feels… beyond. Think about how you’d estimate it, the units you’d use, etc. The point is NOT to get the ‘correct’ answer, but rather to show how you think creatively about questions without a ‘correct’ or readily-accessible answer. It’s about how you quantify the seemingly unquantifiable.

The best essays will usually have some personal connection to your life… as there’s an opportunity to say something more about yourself while also walking the adcom through your creative thought experiment. But again, maybe it just reflects on you insofar as it lets your geek flag fly and reveals a unique perspective on deep and specific interests. 

Essay Option 6

And, as always… the classic choose your own adventure option! In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, choose one of our past prompts (or create a question of your own). Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun!

Some Option 6 essays will stem from previous brainstorming that took a turn away from the prompt, some will not. If you’re in the former group, cool, keep going with your draft, edit well, and own it! 

If you’re in the latter group or you haven’t really connected with any of the above (admittedly oddball) prompts, consider this: As you look back over your entire UChicago application (including the Common App elements), which aspects of you—your engagements with the world, your inner life, your nerdy passions—have not gotten the airtime they really need? If the adcom ONLY had the rest of the application, what would they be missing from the full picture of you? Got a possible answer or two or three? Cool. 

Now, zoom out and imagine you’re writing an uncommon essay prompt. Get creative with your phrasing. To be clear, you don’t need to include a prompt that your essay responds to, but sometimes taking the perspective of ‘what questions could I be answering with this essay’ can help you ideate creative approaches that will allow you to cover topic X in an innovative way. Don’t force a weirdness—just allow your unique voice to come through. Edited, but not censored.

*Updated Sep 2024*

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 and respect 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 a 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).

Let’s start by interpreting/translating that opening blurb:

“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.”

Basically, they’re saying: “Since resumes flatten a person from 3D to 2D, we’re hoping the essay portion will give us a hint in that direction of what your particular “personal characteristics” are. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students, because the net effect of a single person bettering others will be nonstop betterment in every imaginable direction, the net effect of which is maximal success for the class and, most practically, of the individuals who comprise that class.”

So, MIT is going to look for evidence of two things:

That you have something in your experiences, achievements, personality, leadership style, whathaveyou, that would be beneficial to others.

That you seem like the kind of person who will “lean forward” to have that impact on others, and that you’re not just a taker.

Now, onto the next part of that blurb:

“We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world.”

MIT chose the phrase “exceptional intellectual abilities” on purpose because it goes beyond classic indicators of “intelligence” on a resume, or through GMAT/GRE scores. “Exceptional” intellectual abilities include dimensions like “thinking of stuff most other people wouldn’t have” or “questioning long-held truths because something about those truths bothers you” or “succeeding at an attempted solution where countless others have failed.” If you have evidence of THAT kind of intellectual capability, take them on the SCENIC route. They’re saying that the Sloan School of Management welcomes people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. In other words, they want to get the sense that where there’s a status quo, you’re the person who has an itch to disrupt it, and has a track record of doing so.

They want to get the sense that in a situation where others might have played it safe and tried to hit an iron shot into the center of the fairway, you put yourself on the line, took a risk, and reached for your driver, knowing that you might fail, but having the belief in yourself and the courage to follow through on your will. They want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas, because when someone is uncomfortable with “the way things are,” good things tend to happen from a business perspective. Basically they’re saying “Show us that discomfort with the status quo. We demand integrity and respect passion,” but then again, who doesn’t.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – PART 1

There are two themes that jump out in that intro:

Intellectual Might – No real surprise here, but it’s a specific brand of intellect. The one that’s coupled with that second component:

Restlessness – Sitting around, doing what you’re told to do, choosing NOT to “re-open the case because someone else said that it was unsolvable,” having a great idea, but not having the time to pursue it – these are all the OPPOSITE of the person who’s restless. The restless person is always lusting for some opportunity to improve something, change the game, break the mold.

The smart person alone who lacks restlessness isn’t all that interesting. Similarly, a restless person who isn’t a next-level problem solver is still attractive (and maybe worth taking a risk on), but MIT is lucky enough to have the kind of demand where they can screen for the guys and gals who have BOTH.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – PART 2

Great, so, now we have a couple themes to make sure we’re going to PROVE in our cover letters: (1) I’m as intellectually next-level as it gets, but also (2) my arch nemesis is the Status Quo. Cool so… how does one… execute… that… in a cover letter?

Awesome question. Let’s step back for a second. What’s an actual cover letter like in real life? In first-date terms, it’s the VERY first impression. The first time you LAY EYES on your date. It’s the way that person LOOKS to you. It’s the body language that sends either attractive or unattractive signals. In other words, it’s mostly animal instinct. In fact, let’s run with that. In animal interaction terms, it’s “is this other animal a harmless friend? Or a predator? What cues do I have from the LOOK of this animal, and the WAY IT MOVES to provide an answer to that?”

It’s important to consider this deeply. Because the “impression” we’re talking about happens very quickly and does not tap into the more evolved (and relaxed) part of our brains that care about nuance. Why is this significant? Because it’s different from an essay where the reader is generally poised to spot you that first impression, and “hear what you have to say.”

The cover letter is the moment before all that where you have to EARN that next part. This has implications for STYLE and HOW you write your cover letter. It’s one of the few instances on an MBA application where HOW you attack this is almost as important as WHAT you’re attacking with. You can’t just write your way into seeming like a forward-leaning, restless person. You have to COME ACROSS that way in your actual writing. You can’t take your time proving that you’re intellectually next-level over the course of four or five sentences. It has to be evident right at the beginning in “the way you look” and “in your body language.”

Writing cover letters is a true art form, and in our experience the meek and conventional are almost NEVER rewarded. Boldness, assertiveness, risk-taking, authority, confidence, borderline brazen-ness… these are all desirable qualities in a kickass cover letter. Just shy of being smug (no one likes smugness). This is the part where you smirk to yourself, and find your swagger before you put pen to paper.

Now for the actual 300 words themselves, you need to convey a bunch of things:

• I understand what your program is, and what you’re looking for.
• I LIKE your program and I want to be in it BECAUSE (this is the part that most people miss) your program helps me get to where *I* need to go better than any other place.
• Now I’m going to give you just a taste that will make YOU ultimately want to chase ME, and not the other way around. Let me walk you through an example or two of what it is that I’m all about. You’ll see within these glimpses (1) that I’m a restless m*********er, (2) My intellect has a headache because it keeps hitting the ceiling, and (3) that I understand what an MBA can do for me, and that my energy right now to TAKE FROM and CONTRIBUTE TO an MBA program is a net win for everyone: me, my classmates, MIT, and eventually… the world, once I’m out of here.

That may sound like a lot for 300 words, and in some ways it is. But, if you stay intensely focused on those three bullets, no matter how long your first draft ends up being, you’re going to have EXCELLENT clay to mold. If you have a natural tendency to write in a tone that isn’t too stiff and has some personality, then great. Your work will be easier. If you DON’T have that natural flair for letting personality invigorate your prose, fret not. Stay focused on those three bullets. Try not to deviate. And you’ll end up with something that’s (at its worst) extremely targeted. Targeted = confident. There’s always room to infuse drafts with some personality, but the hard part is getting the core content NAILED.

Please submit a one-page resume. This will help us easily track your academic and career path. Try to focus on your work results, not just your title or job description.

Here are some pointers on formatting: 

• One page limit
• Times New Roman font
• Size 10 font
• Word or PDF formats only

Provide the following information in reverse chronological order:

• Education: Please include relevant awards, scholarships and professional societies
• Work Experience: Please include company name, title, results-oriented bullets that demonstrate your skill set, and dates
• Additional information: Please include extracurricular activities/community service, technical skills/certifications, and special skills/interests, and languages spoken (if applicable)

We have lots to say about resumes. But let’s key in on a few CHOICE words from MIT here.

Reverse chronological order is fairly standard, but the fact that they’re throwing a spotlight on it is a hint that either or both (1) some folks incorrectly do it the opposite way and LEAD with earlier stuff, like college, and then whatever comes next, but maybe more interestingly (2) that the truly important stuff is the most recent few years of your life.

The dialogue in the reader’s head probably goes something like “Let me get a quick gauge about where this person is at RIGHT now, what s/he’s up to, and what s/he’s achieving TODAY. Got it, now, let me get a sense of the career ARC. Where did this person start out, what was s/he achieving at any given moment, but also, does his trajectory from one node to the next feel sluggish? Or does this person feel like a juggernaut? Is s/he just blowing out the competition left and right, or is s/he doing serviceable-level work? Where does it seem like it’s all headed?

Anyway, use reverse chronological order to offer up that initial high-level glimpse, then they can dip as far back as they need to get as much of the story as they care to.

The other neat thing worth mentioning is the list of information they’d like included. On the one hand they’re talking about stuff like community service and volunteer activity, but also, they’re asking you to “unflatten” the 2D portrait of yourself with dimension in the form of skills, hobbies, interests, quirks; in other words “stuff that may be unique to you and/or interesting as hell to read about.” Some folks go to this additional information section FIRST before scanning the rest, to hunt for signs of life. Have fun here folks. Include FUN stuff. Include weird stuff. Cool talents, weird talents, weird anything. You’ll want someone to reel you in because you CAN go overboard. But take a swing. Straightforward and lifeless just puts that much more pressure on the REST of your writing to provide all the personality and color. This is an easy way to INSTANTLY stand out against a person with a similar “resume.”

*Updated Sep 2024*

Introduce yourself to your future classmates. Here’s your chance to put a face with a name, let your personality shine through, be conversational, be yourself. We can’t wait to meet you!

Videos should adhere to the following guidelines:

• No more than 1 minute (60 second) in length
• Single take (no editing) 
• Speaking directly to the camera
• Do not include background music or subtitles

Note: While we ask you to introduce yourself to your future classmates in this video, the video will not be shared beyond the admissions committee and is for use in the application process only.

How on Earth can you prepare for something so open-ended!? Well, lots of ways:

Step 1: Know Your Greatest Hits. What are the absolute best stories you have, lifetime, ever? Get acquainted with them according to category. Stuff like, what are my one or two best:

• Leadership Stories?
• Failure Stories?
• Funny Moments at Work Stories?
• Funny Moments Outside of Work Stories?
• Stories That Capture the ESSENCE of who I am?
• Business Ideas that would change the world?
• People I admire?
• Favorite Movies (or books or songs or bands)?
• etc.

Step 2: Get a feel for what 1 minute is.

In fact, get a feel for what 50-55 seconds is. Answer some of these questions within that timeframe. Write out a response, look at it on the page. How many sentences is it? Get comfortable with 1 minute.

Step 3: Record yourself ten times, answering ten different questions.

How do you look? Are you looking at the camera? Or are you looking AT YOURSELF ON SCREEN WHILE RECORDING? Are you fidgeting? Are you moving your hands too much? Are you stumbling over words? Are you reading from a script?

Step 4: Get comfortable to the point where you no longer need to feel rehearsed, or nervous.

How do you look? Are you looking at the camera? Or are you looking AT YOURSELF ON SCREEN WHILE RECORDING? Are you fidgeting? Are you moving your hands too much? Are you stumbling over words? Are you reading from a script?

Copy a list of “interview” questions, keep them hidden, and then test yourself by revealing a question, give yourself 60 seconds to come up with a response, and then record a response in 60 seconds. Do this enough times, and you’ll start to develop “IQ” for “this kind of question.”

The worst thing you can do? Seem overly rehearsed. Meaning, don’t rehearse and deliver exact sentences. It will defeat the purpose of the ENTIRE experiment. The point is to relax the bad kind of nerves to allow your free-est self to SHINE. For some folks, this comes utterly naturally, and honestly, they can skip maybe all those steps. Others might benefit from some dry runs just so that there’s a better chance at real assertiveness and confidence on “the big day.”

So, once you’ve got the presentation down, on to the prompt. You’ve only got sixty seconds to introduce yourself, “include a bit about your past experience” (given the time constraint we’re almost certainly talking ONE fact/story) and explain why you’re picking Sloan. If that sounds challenging—yes, it very much is! But not to worry, you’ve got the written components of the application to convey all your accomplishments. Here, we want to establish a VIBE.

Do NOT try and shove a bunch of different stories in here—instead, focus on the ONE greatest hit that will get the adcom to LIKE you and WANNA GET TO KNOW YOU MORE because you come across irresistible in some way shape or form. This is 90% about personality, and 10% about resume. If we watch this video and say “wow, what an impressive person!” that’s a start. If, however, we say “holy crap I would KILL to meet that person” or “Man, I’d like to invite THAT person to a dinner party,” then congrats, because that’s the best possible reaction.

If you’re not naturally gifted in extemporaneous speaking, then there are things you can do to develop some of that swagger. Those steps above may be worth considering as a starting point.

*Updated Sep 2024*

All MBA applicants will be prompted to respond to a randomly generated, open-ended question. The question is designed to help us get to know you better; to see how you express yourself and to assess fit with the MIT Sloan culture. It does not require prior preparation. 

Video Essay 2 is part of your required application materials and will appear as a page within the application, once the other parts of your application are completed. Applicants are given 10 seconds to prepare for a 60-second response.

The following are examples of questions that may be asked in the Video Question 2:

• What achievement are you most proud of and why?
• Tell us about a time a classmate or colleague wasn’t contributing to a group project. What did you do?

Those are MITs ‘clues.’ Check out our analysis of the Video Essay here for a deep dive.

At Michigan Ross, we believe the best way to learn is by doing. In our Full-Time MBA Program, you will put your skills and knowledge to the test in real-world situations with real stakes. 

How will this learning environment benefit you, and how do you plan to contribute to the action-based learning experience? (300 words) 

A very compelling way to make a strong case here is to draw from an example in your past where you had both an academic version of learning, but also a ‘real-life’ version that you can contrast. This shows that you have experienced both, and can speak from a place of knowing what the delta is between the two, and articulate how and why the real-life version adds particular value. Otherwise, it’ll be speculative––sure, you can say all the right things, but it won’t pack as much punch.

Start by looking back at things you’ve learned in real-life settings that stayed with you the most, had the most profound impact, maybe changed the way you think about something, or represents a moment when you finally ‘got’ a concept. Lots of other types, those are just a few examples. Look at your list, and see if there have been any ‘academic’ lesson versions from your schooling, or some other version of lesson delivery, that you might be able to contrast with. Now, that’s just a bonus version. It’s possible that you simply learned something extremely valuable out in the real world, and there wasn’t an academic version. No problem, there are ways to deal with it.

The key is to articulate the way in which the lesson took root, and how that version of learning is preferable (or desirable) for you. Show us why. What made it effective? What would an alternative version of that lesson have been? Ross basically says it but the most obvious example is that in a ‘lab’ or ‘academic’ setting, there aren’t real-world stakes. The role that ‘risk’ plays is crucial.

Structure for your initial stab:

1. Bring us into a real world situation from your recent past. Explain the situation, and take us through what happened. (75 words)
2. Now, before you tell us what you learned, first tell us what your expectations were prior to this experience, and then take us through how that changed and evolved. Explain how, as precisely as you can. What was it specifically that happened, and how did you process/experience it? Walk us through what that experience was like. Be descriptive, make it visceral. What was your involvement? Did you contribute/participate in a meaningful way? (This is a foreshadow for how you’ll connect it at the end.) (75-100 words)
3. Now take a step back, using your ‘now’ perspective and assess the situation as an effective way for *you* to have learned that lesson given your learning style/preferences. Explain the features that made it effective (for you). (100-125 words)
4. Now zoom out and identify the underlying elements of learning opportunities *like this* that would be particularly effective for you. And tie it to Ross’s REAL approach and make the case that this is a particularly good fit for you. For the final piece, think back to how your participation was a key ingredient, and how you’re hoping to play a part at Ross. (100-125 words)

*Updated Sep 2024*

The Admissions Committee is excited to learn more about you and your background. In 250 words, please respond to the following short answer question:

How has the world you come from shaped who you are today? For example, your family, culture, community, all help to shape aspects of your life experiences and perspective. Please use this opportunity to share more about your background.

Key word here is ‘shaped.’ So, there’s the person you are - which requires its own careful consideration, more on that in a sec - and then there’s what stuff ‘shaped’ that thing (paren) (such that one might care, because otherwise, who cares? Y’know?). Got all that? Cool, let’s start at the end point: what all the shaping has culminated in, the result of all that, the YOU AS YOU ARE TODAY. What is that? What are you? Sounds easy enough, but be careful. We’re only *really* interested in things about you that we might not expect to find easily in… nearly everyone else. Distinct stuff. So that’s Sharpening Exercise #1: what are your distinct features? Think about the most typical MBA applicant to an M7 school. There’s lots of overlapping circles here. Competence. Leadership. Ambition. Skills. Ideas. Great. The stuff you’re likely to find in several others? Ignore it. Dig deeper. Find, instead, salient things that are specific, and only available to… you. Suppose you have a ‘niche’ competence that few others have. Good start. Or suppose others have a predictable take on AI but yours is an unusual angle. Also a good start. Or sure, there are garden variety leaders, but you have a leadership style that’s noteworthy for some reason: your style, an unusual win under trying circumstances, something not just anyone might have pulled off. Good, we’re getting warmer. You get the idea. Ten MBA Sloan applicants all lined up, you among them; someone who knows you might say, “Yah but the thing about Jim is…” …. Whatever might fill in that blank, probably gets us somewhere. Figure that piece out first. What are the few (could even be just one) traits that are locatable only in you, or special because of something about you. 

Once you’ve locked that in, ask yourself Sharpening Exercise #2: how on Earth did I go from helpless neonate… to that? “I might have turned out this other way, had it not been for the influence hand(s) of… ?” “I was headed in this direction, but then ended up going in this other direction, because of… ?” “I had a natural talent or proclivity in X, but what really elevated that to a new, special level was… ?” These’ll get you headed in the right direction. Try to figure out the precise ‘shaping’ elements that led to your eventual ‘condition.’ (!) 

Now, while most applicants won’t quite even nail those two things, the rare few that might, will stop there. But not you. You’re going to go one crucial step further, and venture into Sharpening Exercise #3: What might one take away from this insight, in a way that can be meaningfully applied to the road that lies ahead? Why is the knowledge of ‘what these shaping elements are’ useful in any way? The Varsity level response considers this, and extracts a kind of take-home lesson that now makes it dangerous in the best of ways. It isn’t enough to know that a certain mentor, or environmental conditions, or life circumstance played a role in shaping you. It’s only cool if - from that - you’re able to leverage it somehow. And divine something about the value of mentorship. Or gain an insight that can be applied to future situations. Why is any of that important? At all, but to a business school?

Because engaging with these concepts thoughtfully signals something about your ability to introspect, and analyze, and synthesize. And the person who can do that - seemingly effortlessly - is the kind of person who has the makings of a multi-tool beast who can work their way through any problem, because they are thinkers, problem solvers. They’re the types of people who will ask smarter questions, and seek long-term solutions, or find creative, lateral thinking ways out of problems, because… this is what they do. They dig. They showcase self-awareness. Insight. Thoughtfulness. That’s the point of nailing all three.

Here’s your structure, and it flows from the write-up above:

• Start with the end point, the ‘what distinct stuff not just defines me, but differentiates me from the pack.’ That is, by seeing what makes these traits and features different from others, you’ll best understand what I am therefore all about. Show us by example. Prove it. Make it so that we can see it. (75-100 words)
• Now trace it back to the ‘shaping’ elements. Why are you aware that these were the shapers? How did you come to recognize it? Can you show us how the shaping happened? Did you understand that it was happening at the time, or after the fact? What, who, where, how. Paint a picture. (75-100 words)
• Now, make it all matter. Here’s a fun exercise: if you hadn’t become aware of ‘the hand’ of the shaping elements, imagine your life playing out one way. Call that Scenario 1. Now, replay it, equipped with a full appreciation of the conditioning elements, and replay your future, let’s call that Scenario 2. What’s different about these two pictures? Why is Scenario 2 better and more interesting? What are the ‘gains’ from the insight itself? (50-75 words)

That’ll get you a credible Draft 1.

*Updated Sep 2024*

What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum)

This question certainly stands out compared to the common MBA essay fare. One cool way to start is to establish a FEW things you really like to do, and are good at. Think about them, and what makes you really enjoy them. Write it all down and make a list.

Now, look at that list… which of those activities/processes/things makes you feel MOST ALIVE? You have a sense of the status quo, of what you enjoy, but one of these things is special. More exhilarating, somehow. How is that NEW THING different from the rest? This exercise should help you zero in on the key element of an activity that makes you, personally, feel alive. That element will be different for everyone, you just need to identify what it is for you.

We want to open with that key difference between “things you enjoy” and “things that make you feel alive.” After you’ve established that, now we need to know why we should care. Well, let’s put that differently… this section should leave us wanting you to BE IN THAT “ALIVE” STATE. We want to convince the adcom, through your sincerity and passion, that enabling you is likely to lead to good things. That’s the cynical read here, folks. People who are really truly passionate, people who can get into a flow state… don’t quit. That’s what you’re REALLY conveying here. That when the going gets tough, you’re the kind of person who will stick with the MBA and not withdraw (costing the school a bunch of money).

So, initially you’ll explain what makes you feel alive, and here in “part 2” you’ll explain the “why.” But as you do, keep in mind that sincerity will beat melodrama, flowery tear-jerking or inspirational prose any day. Just be clean and earnest, and try to put your finger on what gets activated in you and why.

Use this short-answer section to succinctly share your short- and long-term goals. If you’re invited to interview, you will have the opportunity to elaborate on your statement further, and you should be prepared to connect your prior experience with your future aspirations.

Goals Statement Prompt:

A statement of your goals will begin a conversation that will last throughout the admissions process and guide your steps during the MBA program and experience. To the best of your understanding today, please share your short and long term goals by completing the following sentences and answering the enclosed short answer question (350 words maximum):

Immediately post-MBA, my goal is to work as a(n) [Role] at [Company] within [Industry].

• Targeted Job Role:
• Target Job Company:
• Industry:

In 5–10 years post-MBA, my goal is to work as a(n) [Role] at [Company] within [Industry].

• Targeted Job Role:
• Target Job Company:
• Industry:

Please share how you plan to utilize the resources available to you at Johnson as well as any existing resources you bring to the program to help you secure your post-MBA career goal. (new, adapt)

This first “just fill in exactly what we tell you to fill in” section is the equivalent of the lawyer in a courtroom drama interrupting a loquacious witness with “please just answer with a simple ‘yes or no.'” Translation: “That’s all we need to know at this time.”

Fill out the top section, exactly as they ask. Don’t elaborate, nuts and bolts folks. For the follow-up, they’re focusing you again. The key is to demonstrate how ‘sound’ your reasoning is with respect to the following:

• You get what’s required to succeed at your long-term goals, and therefore your short-term goals.
• You understand what skills/traits you have now versus what you still need to obtain/develop.
• You’ve done your homework and have come to the conclusion that while there may be other ways to get there, that the best path for you travels through Cornell Johnson, given your sense of the resources available to you at Cornell Johnson, and the precise way those suit your learning style and needs best.
• You’ve given thought to how you’re planning on engaging with and extracting value from these resources.
• But you also bring something to the table, that - when combined with Cornell Johnson offerings - further advances your interests.

Your response needs to convey all of that. So the first step, as with any MBA application, is to have spent the time to work through the logic underneath your goals and plans to the point where it seems so logical so as to feel ‘inevitable.’ You need to understand your plans and the reasoning behind every aspect of it. Once you’ve worked your way through that, now you’re ready to build an essay draft:

1. First establish what one would need to succeed at the goals you’ve indicated in the opening section (ST and LT objectives). Show us that you ‘get’ what’s required to truly flourish, and why those skills, traits, experience levels are necessary. (50-75 words)
2. Now give us a sense for what skills you have today, but what skills you have yet to acquire. (25-50 words)
3. Next, take us through the way in which certain resources at Cornell Johnson will help you build and develop and plug these gaps, and advance you toward the ‘level’ you established in your opening. Be specific. What are examples of resources, what is the precise way in which you’ll interact with these, and explain to us the way in which these will advance your interests given your precise needs and goals. This takes research and an intimate understanding of how all the pieces fit together. (125-175 words)
4. Finally, explain what it is about you that will make engaging with these resources fruitful. In other words, convince us that you have what it takes to make the theoretical value of these resources fully realized. Throughout these arguments, remember the larger frame that successfully navigating Cornell Johnson’s offerings will help you achieve success immediately post graduation, as you enter (or re-enter) the fray and pursue your ST goals. This context is crucial to help you connect the dots of all the preceding, intermediating steps. (25-75 words)

What are your post-MBA career goals? Share with us your first-choice career plan and your alternate plan. (100 words)

100 words is very short and efficient. Duke is asking you to GET TO IT!

[1] What are your post-MBA career goals?

The key to any question like this is that it all has to make sense. And in order for it to make sense, there needs to be just the right amount of context for any proposed idea to ‘snap into place.’ You have a goal to do something? Cool. Why? What’s the need for it? What’s the problem being solved? What’s the opportunity? Why should anyone care? If you can set up the ‘problem’ or ‘opportunity’ VERY quickly, good, do it. Now, given that, state your post-MBA career goals, and show us how they are in service of that opening big picture problem. Each major component of your post-MBA career goals (i.e., your short-term goals) should seem utterly logical.

[2] Share with us your first-choice career plan and your alternate plan.

It all flows from that opening context. Establish what your first choice plan is (tightly) and quickly establish why that’s the best and most ideal version (Is it speed? Amplitude of success? Some other measure of greatness?). Now, show us the backup plan, and don’t just focus on the alternate-ness of the plan, but rather the suggestion that you’re prepared to succeed no matter what, and have a plan for ‘anything’ that comes your way. 

Not a lot of room to faff here. 100 words is tight. Be efficient and logical.

Darden Short Essay 1

Darden strives to identify and cultivate responsible leaders who follow their purpose. Please provide an example of a situation in which you have made a meaningful impact. (200 words)

Ah, impact. Lots of people attack this with excellent intentions and write killer essays… but, not ones that are truly about IMPACT. Here’s where most folks go astray:

Let’s say you’re working at a consulting firm, or a bank, or a retail outfit. And you outperform folks who have come before you, to the point where upper management goes “wow, you are killing it in XYZ ways! Thank god we hired you, you’ve been an absolute game changer. What an impact you’ve had on… operations, morale, sales, boy oh boy!”

Cool. Here’s the thing, let’s say you leave, and an alien revisits that organization, say, five years later, and does a thorough audit of sales, operational fluidity, morale, everything. If ultimately, the findings are more or less the same as they were while you were there, and as they were five years prior… then while the things you did may still have been INCREDIBLY IMPRESSIVE, and MEANINGFUL TO THE BOTTOM LINE, you have not necessarily made an impact.

Think about impact like a tattoo that doesn’t wash away. A shift in something (operations, supply chain, culture, something) that STAYS the way a tattoo does. Forever. No going back. That’s the kind of story we wanna hear about. Not just wild success. Success that left a mark. A thing that the guy who followed in your footsteps now adheres to because of something YOU did.

“This company now does this thing THIS way which has had X benefit, and that thing exists because of THIS STORY I’M ABOUT TO DROP.”

“This team USED to do X but now they Y because I led an initiative to change it because THIS STORY HAPPENED THAT I’M ABOUT TO TELL.” 

“I set out to change the way the company used to ABC, and HERE’S HOW I WENT ABOUT GETTING IT DONE.”

Any of these will work, among others. However, to satisfy the “leader who follows a purpose” part of the question, your version also has to include something… extra. Something not REQUIRED to meet the bar of success, but that brought forth additional impact that was meaningful for a higher, non-monetary reason. “Not required” is key, because this type of purposeful social impact is strongest when it’s generated from a place of “it was just the proper, or correct, or smarter thing to do, for the good of… future generations, longer-LASTING support, etc. Find your version, and spend some time grappling with why we should care about any of it. Both in terms of why it was important to YOU, but also, what we learn about how you approach new challenges.

1. Take us through an experience, explain the objectives, the challenges, and what was going through your mind at the time. Explain how you pulled it off, and also how you measured the fact that there was an impact after the fact. [100-125 words]
2. Give us a reason to care about this. Why tell us? What does it say about your motivations? What did you learn here? Were you humbled? Did it affect the way you define or measure goals/success? Give us some kind of take home… [75 words]

Part 2: How will you make an impact at Michigan Ross?

Michigan Ross is proud to support a community of leaders and impact makers. As a future member of this community, we want to know more about who you are and what drives you. Please choose 1 of the following prompts to tell us more about what makes you stand out beyond your academic and work experience. List the prompt you are answering at the top of your response. (200 words) 

• What makes you unique? 
• Can you provide a specific example of how you've overcome a personal challenge? 
• What makes you excited to get up each morning? 
• Describe a time when you made a difference in your community or with an individual. 

Let’s go through each one.

[1] What makes you unique? 

There are three reactions a great response will elicit here, and two of them are very sneaky:

1. Reaction 1: That *is* unique!
2. Reaction 2: That makes me want to get to know you *more* than I did before I learned that!
3. Reaction 3: The fact that you chose to tell me that, says something about you.

Most applicants will find some semi interesting trait or background circumstance that they hope will ‘impress’ the audience, but won’t really dig deep enough. As an exercise, list out some things that seem like they may be decent options and then stress test them by seeing if they satisfy all three of those criteria. The inherent challenge is that the best judge of your uniqueness isn’t you but ‘everyone else.’ In fact, you can use that. Have others given you clues about what makes you unique?

Now, when you’ve locked into your unique feature(s), it’s time to convey it compellingly.

1. One way to maximize your effectiveness here is to set your audience up for an ‘expected direction,’ and then twist it. This does two things at once: it helps the ‘surprise’ element by forcing the audience to need to grapple with the new information, increasing the chances of it registering as ‘unique.’ (150-175 words)
2. You should also glancingly explain what this implies about you, and/or why this is cool/interesting, without hitting it so squarely on the head that it counteracts the entire effort. This takes *finesse*! So be careful. You want to help the audience along by making this unique fact not be… frivolous and a waste of everyone’s time. But also, if you’re too aware of its importance, it kinda kills it in the other direction. This one’s hard to provide specific guidance for because there’s so much ‘feel’ involved. (25-50 words)

[2] Can you provide a specific example of how you've overcome a personal challenge? 

Great one to consider. To begin, appreciate the difference between a ‘challenge’ and a ‘personal’ challenge. This isn’t about a time you succeeded against steep odds. Instead, it’s about a time when you had to look inward, and do something that required some kind of internal struggle, where the ‘complicating’ factor was self-generated. Where you were getting in your own way, somehow. 

Let’s break this down:

• Bring us into a situation that required some kind of solving/resolution. What needed doing, what were the stakes, and now, what were the ‘universal’ challenges? That is, the challenges that anyone attempting to solve this problem would encounter? (50-75 words)
• And now, what was the unique additional challenge that only you had to deal with? The personal one specific to you? (25-50 words)
• Explain how you dug deep to overcome this personal obstacle. It couldn’t have been easy, otherwise it’s not much of a notable story here. (75-100 words)
• Now explain how the ‘overcoming’ has made you better somehow. How has your world gotten bigger? How has your ability to lead improved? (25 words)

[3] What makes you excited to get up each morning? 

Great, great, great option. And honestly? It’s kind of a great exercise to go through… as a useful tool to for……. navigating life itself. If you can dig deep enough to understand what ‘gets you up in the morning,’ you may hack your own mainframe and understand what truly makes you tick. Once you do that, everything can change. So, hard recommend on attempting this one, even if you don’t end up writing about it!

What do they mean by this question? What are they looking for? Think about what it means to ‘use the right tool for the job.’ The idea is: If you understand the design of an instrument, and apply it smartly to ‘the thing it was designed to do,’ your chances of success at that task are… much better than if you didn’t understand any of that, used all types of tools, including ones that weren’t meant for that job. When you understand ‘your design’ and then set out to achieve things ‘for which you were designed’ your chances of success are high. Now here’s the twist: 

[Stay with us, this is going to get dense and philosophical…]

Whatever gets you up in the morning, is something that satisfies something deep within you. Getting up in the morning, of course, is a metaphor for ‘propels you forward’ or ‘makes your passion center glow with anticipation.’ This can be elusive. We can have a sense of what this is, but oftentimes we’ll get stuck on superficial markers. 

Example: I love doing home improvement projects! (superficial, surface)

Deeper Level Insight: I love solving problems using my own intuition and my own hands (i.e., faculties).

Whereas the first superficial example may be ‘true,’ it doesn’t capture the deeper layer of insight. If you can get to that deeper layer, that’s when the magic happens. If you understand that you’re attracted to solving problems, its applications become limitless.

So try this out: List things that excite you, make you buzz, things you’d do and not care about getting paid for it (that’s a great tire kick test). Then try to dig as deep as you can to find the ‘root-level’ feature, to the point where you can go any deeper.

Once you find that root-level insight, now you can begin writing:

1. You can either start with (a) an example of the thing, or (b) the root-level, scalable version, choice is yours.
2. Whichever you start with, then follow-up with the other one. For example:
   1. Option 1: Start with Root-Level description, follow up with Specific Example
   2. Option 2: Start with Specific Example, follow up with Root-Level restatement 
3. What does this realization mean for your future? How does it inform what ideas you’ll pursue? How does it inform the approach you’ll take? If you’ve really engaged with the ‘digging deep’ exercise, you should start to see the wild implications of developing clarity around this insight!

[4] Describe a time when you made a difference in your community or with an individual. 

Tough one because the purest version of making a difference is when you’re not actually aware of it, but the other guy is. It often undermines the whole thing if you’re conscious of the impact you’re having… not loving this question. But let’s see what they’re going for and get around it.

Rather than throw the spotlight on how important you are on the ‘delivering impact’ side, one way to pull this off without seeming conceited or disingenuous is to focus on being attuned to the needs OF the community or individual. Your sensing an opportunity TO have an impact is the key here. When you find a potential story to draw from, take us through the manner in which you saw an opportunity. What was it that altered you TO that opportunity? What did you notice? Why did you care? Why was intervening meaningful to you? What was it you were hoping to achieve? To what end?

That’ll get you out of trouble:

1. Take us into the ‘situation’ that - if unattended - would have ended up one way. But ‘that way’ was suboptimal to you, because you could imagine a better outcome. Walk us through these thoughts. Why weren’t others intervening? Did they not notice? Did they not care? Did they notice and care but not have the right tools to problem solve and execute?
2. What then did you do? How did you develop your plan? How did a careful understanding of the community or individual inform the specific way in which you developed your approach?
3. What was the result? Finish this with a word about that ‘detection’ instinct you have and why it’s an important part of who you are.

These walkthroughs for all four responses should get you to decent first drafts! Generally, we’d recommend tackling 2-4 and avoiding 1, but… it’s case-dependent, as always.

What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals?

Short-term career goals should be achievable within 3-5 years post-MBA, whereas long-term goals may span a decade or more and encompass broader professional aspirations. (300 words max)

Very standard (and important business school) question. The key here is for the thing to just make sense. So much sense that it’s like “why didn’t I think of that.” The more obvious the idea is, and your proposed path for how you’re going to achieve it, given (this is key) who you are and specifically what you bring to the equation, the more likely you are to seem like someone who is going to succeed … no matter what you pursue. And that, friends, is the ballgame. You need to seem like someone who is destined to succeed. This is what business schools are hoping to invest in (or gamble on). It has little to do with your specific idea, and more to do with how well you’ve considered your idea as a problem to solve, and developed a plan to solve it.

1. Start by teeing up the ultimate end goal. The key here is talk about the result of it all, not the role or function itself. If you succeed at the thing you’re hoping to succeed in, what results from that? What changes or improves? Help us see it. This will get instant buy-in from your readers. (50-75 words)
2. Now explain what skills and experience level are required in order to succeed at this endeavor. Presumably you have some of that, but not all of it, otherwise… why go through the expense and opportunity cost of an MBA? Show us where you are now, and what’s left to gain in your overall path. This sets you up perfectly to explain all the intermediating steps between you and your eventual goal, which include your MBA and then your short-term goal en route to your long-term goal. (75 words)
3. Now, it writes itself. Take us through what you’re hoping to pick up through an MBA, and how that enhances existing skills and shores up gaps in your profile, within the context that you’ve already laid out of what the end goal is. (75 words)
4. Then, show us how this positions you to play ball at the next level which is the thing you’re hoping to do immediately after business school, for 3-5 years. Connect the dots. How have your past experiences prepared you to succeed at business school. And then how will the pickups at business school equip you with the ability to then enter that next phase? (50-75 words)
5. Take us through how these 3-5 years after business school fit into that bigger picture. What happens next? What are you now picking up that will propel you further toward your ultimate goal? What if Plan A doesn’t work, what might a Plan B or C look like? Show us that you’ve sketched the whole thing out, have a clear understanding of what’s required, and have all the contingencies lined up, the way that any person intent on solving a problem would. This is key, giving off those vapors. (50-75 words)

That gets you to a solid first draft.

The 'Team Fuqua' spirit and community is one of the things that sets the MBA experience apart, and it is a concept that extends beyond the student body to include faculty, staff, and administration. Please share with us “25 Random Things” about you. The Admissions Committee wants to get to know YOU - beyond the professional and academic achievements listed in your resume and transcript. Share with us important life experiences, your hobbies, achievements, fun facts, or anything that helps us understand what makes you who you are.

Your list will be limited to 2 pages (750 words maximum). Please present your response in list form, numbered 1 to 25. Some points may be brief, while others may be longer.

Random, folks. The absolute worst way to play this is to “clearly not have fun with it.” If you take this too seriously, and look at it like an opportunity to impress them with more achievements, you’re going to bore them to tears, and potentially turn them off. To avoid having fun with it will almost *guarantee* that they conclude that “this is the type of person who is incapable of having fun.” That person is going to be a net negative on campus. We’re looking for “wins.” People who add to the community. Those people have personalities. Charm. Wit. Playfulness. Spirit. If this isn’t in you… you’d better get it fast.

Random doesn’t mean “by itself.” It has to tell us something about you. Example:

“A hummingbird flaps its wings about 70 times in a second.”

Great. But… this tells us what about you?

The random thing must give us a key to your coolness, your quirkiness, your… self. Somehow.

“When I was nine years old, in charge of “snacks” for a class camp out, I brought croissants. That was the day I realized I was not only born on the wrong continent, but in the wrong century.”

See the difference? This is revealing. Endearing. Self-deprecating. Tells us something about the author. 25 things like that.

Also, don’t be afraid to get creative. Make up your own conceits to GET you to a place of 25 random things:

“If I had to pick five celebrities to start a brand new civilization, they would be: Person (witty reason), Person 2 (witty reason), etc etc.” Don’t steal that, cuz it’ll look suspicious when several people submit the same thing! But you see the IDEA here, that you can literally invent ANY NUMBER of cool premises to help you reveal something about yourself and your attitudes.

One of our goals at Berkeley Haas is to develop leaders who value diversity and to create an inclusive environment in which people from different ethnicities, genders, lived experiences, and national origins feel welcomed and supported.

Describe any experience or exposure you have in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging whether through community organizations, personal, or in the workplace? (300 words max)

Candidates seeking consideration for mission-aligned fellowships may use this space to reflect on their commitment to the mission of those fellowships.

This question (although the question mark is an intriguing choice, we can only assume this question was inspired by thoughtful teenager born in a year that begins with a ‘2’) is nice and open-ended, and leaves room for just about any experience that grazes this theme, even glancingly. The key here is to demonstrate that you are someone who aligns with Haas’s mere consideration of this topic, that it matters to you also, and thus, your radar is attuned to it, consciously or unconsciously. Let’s ask a few questions to provoke some thought and reveal potential stories within your repertoire of experiences that might work:

• Have you ever experienced a great version of this, where an organization, or an individual, did something that others wouldn’t have, that modeled thoughtful attention and care to the themes of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, or belonging? At what point did it occur to you that this was being tended to in a thoughtful way? It only really counts if you could have imagined the same scenario playing out a different way, in the hands of someone less attentive to these themes. Now you’re onto something.
• Have you ever experienced the opposite? A situation where the organization, or a leader, or any variation of those, had the opportunity to tend to these themes, but didn’t? Either because they missed it, or consciously went the other way? When did *that* become evident to you, and what was going on in your mind at the time? What happened? Did you intervene? Were you unable to intervene, but did it teach you something vital about how you might approach a similar situation when you were able to exert more control?
• Have you been in the ‘subject’ pool of this? That is, someone who has been affected by either positive or negative attention to these themes? What was the situation? What happened? What was going through your mind? What did you do?

Let’s talk structure:

1. First, drop us into the situation. Which of the three scenarios above is your version (there may be others, but perhaps those stoke some ideas to get you started). What was the goal, what was at stake? Explain this - at first - without consideration to the themes indicated, just talk broadly about ‘what was happening, at all’ so we get a sense. Now, introduce the relevance of the central themes here, and explain why they mattered. (75 words)
2. Now explained how it all played out, quickly providing the simple facts before delving deeper into the consequences (either positive or negative) of the way in which those themes were tended to, or not. What was gained, lost, missed, crucially considered, and why does any of it matter? Explain this not as though it’s a foregone conclusion, but rather, explain it on a very personal level why careful attention to these themes is useful, important, part of a bigger project of a better way forward. Remember, this is business school, so resist the temptation to drift into soapbox territory, and consider the frame of business as the undergirds to your argument. (125-150 words)
3. Take us into the future now. Summarize the key learning points and show us how you plan to apply these to all that lies ahead, beginning with business school, and your intentions of engaging with fellow classmates and professors and whomever else. As well as the future beyond, where these issues will continue to play a part, whether primary or otherwise. How does thoughtful attention to these make for a better environment for all to succeed in a way that ‘rises the tide and lifts all boats’? Can you thread the needle here and make an argument that satisfies both a business person as well as ‘citizen of the world’? If it’s too squarely one or the other, it might miss the mark. (75-100 words)

Inclusive Impact: Please describe a tangible example that illuminates your experience promoting an inclusive environment and what you would bring to creating a welcoming, global community at Darden. (300 words)

Some people will have experienced versions of this which have ‘easier’ makings of an inclusivity story. Others may be swimming upstream and feel like it may be hard to sell their version, or worse, their attempted version at an ‘I too have an inclusion story!’ may come across tone-deaf, privileged, out-of-touch, etc. In either case, the key is to make like Leo in Inception, and go to several levels deep. If you can identify an inclusivity problem or opportunity, but speak about it on a root level - not focusing all attention on surface level details, but deeper, universal ones - you’re heading down the right path.

1. Take us into the middle of the situation. Explain the circumstances, the goals, the challenges, the players, and the moment the ‘inclusivity’ problem became known to you. How did you become aware of it? What was causing it? What were the consequences or potential consequences if it hadn’t been addressed? (75-100 words)
2. Now take us through what calculations you were making when you addressed the situation. What was going through your head? Who were all the stakeholders, and what were the challenges? Were there ways it could have gone wrong? In other words, how did you decide on the right tactic, or approach? Take us through those decision-tree moments. What was the result? What did you learn from it? What did you learn about yourself? (100-125 words)
3. What did you learn about that experience that carried forward in subsequent approaches to similar (or even not-so-similar) situations? Presumably what you learned was a net positive, and an important skill. Tell us why it’s important for you to keep honing this skill, and why it’s the type of environment you ‘require’ (are seeking) in an ideal business school environment, and how you’re hoping to bring something to Darden. How can you sell this beyond just saying the right words? Figure everyone will *say* that they’re going to bring this intention to Darden. Why should we believe you? (100 words)

What is your short-term career goal, and how will Ross help you achieve it? (200 words)

If you’ve read our analyses elsewhere you’ll come upon this idea of ‘this has to make so much sense, it all seems inevitable.’ You know that thing where when you explain something the person listening to you just starts nodding, whether or not they agree with you? Because it’s so preposterously logical, it taps into our lizard brains and we just start nodding? This is important because if you have thought about your goals so carefully that you’ve figured out the best possible way to make it happen, it says something important about your likelihood to succeed at not only this plan, but any plan. Take home point: it’s less about how cool your goals are and more about how much sense your plan is to make it happen.

Whatever you choose as your ‘end point’ for this question (could be a quick glimpse into your long-term vision just to frame it all, or you may simply focus on your ST goals), there must be a reason FOR that goal. Meaning, to succeed at that goal will impact something or someone. What is it? This is the ‘why should anyone care’ piece which is essential. We need to see what the potential impact is FOR your goals, so that we can care about any aspect of your plans to achieve them. 

Once that’s locked in, now it’s a simple game of working backwards to show how each piece of the plan advances you toward that ultimate aim. It’s best when your plan implies that you’ve considered alternative pathways but chosen *this* one because of reasons XYZ. We want to get a sense not just that you have a plan, but that you’ve explored all possibilities and have chosen the *best* plan. This implies problem-solving, will, follow-through potential, etc.

1. What is it you’re hoping to do in the short-term, and what’s the purpose of this, what’s the potential impact? Who or what benefits? (25-50 words)
2. What’s required to pull this off? What skills and experiences? We need to establish a frame of things you’ll need but may not have today. (25-50 words)
3. Now take us through the precise way a Ross MBA equips you with new skills to position you to pursue your immediate, post-MBA goals. (25-75 words)
4. Finally, walk us through those immediate, post-MBA years, and explain what you’re hoping to acquire in the way of skills and experiences, and how doing so helps you achieve your objectives for this period of your career. (50-100 words)

The Berkeley MBA program develops leaders who embody our four Defining Leadership Principles. Briefly introduce yourself to the admissions committee, explain which Defining Leadership Principle resonates most with you, and tell us how you have exemplified the principle in your personal or professional life.

Please review the Defining Leadership Principles in advance and take time to prepare your answer before recording. You will be able to test your audio-visual connection before recording. Video essays should last 1-2 minutes and may not exceed 2 minutes.

Pulled directly from the URL above:

• Question the Status Quo
  We thrive at the epicenter of innovation. We make progress by speaking our minds even when it challenges convention. We lead by championing bold ideas and taking intelligent risks.
• Confidence Without Attitude
  We make decisions based on evidence and analysis, giving us the confidence to act with humility. We foster collaboration by building a foundation of empathy, inclusion, and trust.
• Students Always
  We are a community designed to support curiosity. We actively seek out diverse perspectives as part of our lifelong pursuit of personal and intellectual growth. There is always more to learn.
• Beyond Yourself
  We shape our world by leading ethically and responsibly. As stewards of our enterprises, we take the longer view in our decisions and actions. This often means putting the collective good above our own interests.

1-2 minutes of video time roughly translates to 125-250 words if written. It’s not a lot, but still enough to tell a story and home in on a core principle and then connect it to one or more of the themes listed above.

You’ll want to begin by talking about yourself, and not mentioning the values first. If you mention the values first and *then* forge a connection, it’ll seem manufactured. Instead identify either a story that perfectly encapsulates something differentiated or defining about you, as if you’d never read these four principles, ever. Then, after you’ve delivered an example (some kind of story) that paints a picture of who are you and what defines you, succinctly, connect it to one (or more) of these themes, and explain how they connect in your view.

Before we get to structure, first we need to determine what it is you might say about yourself - by way of an introduction - that piques curiosity (and interest) from someone listening. To do this, you have to consider who your competitors are, what their goals are, what their profiles must look like, and how much overlap there is between you and all of them. And then anything that’s even remotely ‘common’ … do not dwell on. There has to be some angle(s) that make you distinct. Find them. If you have a goal that’s common, what makes your take different? If you have a background that’s seemingly similar to others, is there a dimension that makes it different somehow? How is your approach, or leadership style, or personality somehow uniquely you? If you were lined up alongside 20 other Haas applicants who had similar profiles and goals, how might a friend you as being distinct somehow? What would they focus on to make that case? That is likely a great starting point to start ideating on what you might say in your introduction.

Preparation

• Step 1: Locate differentiating/interesting features about you and your profile (a trusted friend or advisor can help here).
• Step 2: Once you have those key features locked, now locate the best story (or stories) that best exemplifies them such that we can picture it all, and extrapolate on our own.
• Step 3: Now, you’re ready to structure your approach to your video.

The ‘Script’

1. Introduce yourself if you’d like straightforwardly, ‘Hi my name is’ kinda thing. Or, if you’re able to drop your viewer into a story and you have the performance skills and confidence to pull this off, do so. 
2. Focus on the points of the story that build toward the reveal that is the differentiating feature, and little else. This isn’t about your resume, or how well you can impress your audience. It’s about giving your audience a reason to be intrigued by you, to like the person you seem to be, and to want to get to know you better. (This should get you to the halfway point.)
3. Now pivot and connect with one or more of the themes from Haas, talking more broadly about why those themes matter to you. It should be utterly logical that you’d resonate with these themes given the story points you began your introduction with.
4. Spend just a little time explaining why you stand to benefit from *others* who connect with these themes as well (not simply by stating it, but making an actual salient point). And convey your excitement to meet others, therefore, who exemplify these traits.

Your video should not seem scripted or overly rehearsed. Check out our analysis for Tepper’s video essay here and navigate to “Carnegie Mellon (CMU) Tepper Business School MBA – Video Essay: Goals.” There are some useful tips in there for how to navigate preparing for a video prompt you know about ahead of time, and how to both (1) prepare perfectly, without (2) seeming over-rehearsed.

Careers With Purpose: 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)

We love the 200 words aspect because it’s so clear what the structure needs to be, let’s just get into it:

1. Start with a high level (and succinct) vision of the LT vision, in broad strokes––and here, talk about it purely in terms of the impact you’re hoping to achieve. “My plan is to change the way…” “In twenty years, people will no longer be doing… XYZ.” Sell us on the importance of this (to you), and give us a sense for why you’re committed to seeing it through (high level). (25–50 words)
2. Now explain a very sober, boring, but utterly logical plan for a short term that equips you with the right skills, network, experiences, and growth/development to advance you toward your LT objectives. You can start this section by laying out the skills that LT vision will require, and then transition to how your specific ST plan will meet those requirements, one by one, step by step. A should lead to B which enables C that then gets you to D, etc. eventually to… “Oz.” Be deadly specific. Sound like a person who has researched this to the last detail, and has three contingency plans (you might even tease those here). (50-125 words)
3. Finish by tying how these short terms goals will enable you to achieve this meaningful thing you’ve laid out in the very beginning. You’ve given us the plan in excruciating detail, but leave us with a powerful emotional sense that you are committed to this on a deep, deep level. (25 words)

Job Essay 1

Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/products and results achieved. (200 words maximum)

Okay folks, no real need to be creative here, or dramatic, or “interesting.” Why say that? Because if you attempt it, it may come across as an insecurity. You’re the guy who doesn’t understand when straightforward is actually a show of strength.

Be brief, straightforward, and get into the details…fast. One way of looking at this is simply to flesh out (somewhat) your latest entry on your resume. Just, turn it into a readable paragraph so that anyone reading it can understand exactly where you work, exactly what it is you do, and exactly what your accomplishments mean (i.e., you’ve given us enough context to be able to make sense of them). And that’s all, folks.

Job Essay 2

What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same company instead of going to business school? (200 words maximum)

Assume for a minute that you are going to STAY at your current place of work for the next twenty years (just pretend). Presumably, you’ll rise in the ranks in SOME capacity. Even if you’re the CEO of a start-up, your position will evolve somehow as your company grows. Imagine that spectrum between today and 20 years from now sub-divided into five major bumps. What’s the very next one? Explain the bump in terms of what is it you do/oversee today and how it will CHANGE once you’re promoted or rise in the ranks some other way.

All we’re trying to do is understand where you are in life. That’s it. No need to explain that you truly want to do something else; we’re just getting our bearings.

Job Essay 3

Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe your career path with the rationale behind your choices. (300 words maximum)

This is where it starts to get real. Whereas the first few can be extremely devoid of “carefully chosen words,” here, you need to express ideas clearly, and compellingly.

…and this is gonna take some thought.

Start by explaining the context behind your very first post-graduate decision, by way of some overarching goal — as clear or as nebulous as it may have been. Given that you one-day wanted to X, you decided to pursue Y as your first official move after university. Explain your developments, skills gained, ways in which you advanced your career interests (or gained clarity on what it was you truly wanted to do), and let that guide your description of whatever major thing happened next. Presumably, you were promoted, or you chose another job, or you chose another industry, or a life circumstance spun things in a new direction, etc. Whatever it is, keep in mind that this is all part of a single narrative that connects each juncture along a single spectrum that takes us from the first job after university to wherever you are today, with your decision-making as your rudder at each key moment. We should be able to read this essay and then repeat back not just what the steps were of your career, but why you made your choices at each step.

Job Essay 4

Discuss your short and long-term career aspirations with an MBA from INSEAD. (100 words maximum)

Couldn’t be more straightforward. Name of the game is “this must make so much sense it feels inevitable.” The key is to consider your end goal a problem to solve, for which (1) an MBA, (2) from INSEAD, (3) followed by your short-term goals are the most logical solutions. If you think about it this way, you’ll find a sharper way to describe the utility and purpose of each step. They shouldn’t feel like nice-sounding things, but rather, *necessary* parts of a solution.

1. Start with explaining very clearly your end goal, and what’s necessary to achieve that.
2. Now, with that frame established, show us how an MBA from INSEAD improves your chances (and equips you with the necessary skills) to pursue your ST goals.
3. Then explain how your ST goals advance your interests toward your LT goals. There shouldn’t be new information here, rather, more connecting the dots given the frame you’ve established in Bullet 1.

Job Essay 5 (Optional)

If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current employer more than 2 months before the programme starts, please explain your activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the programme.

Only answer this one if it applies to you. If you’re explaining the “not working” aspect, be extremely straightforward. The more it seems like you’re justifying something, the “guiltier” you’ll come across. Imagine you’re re-assuring the person who just hired you why there’s this strange gap that we just noticed. Before we get cold feet, make that feeling go away quickly, with extreme confidence, clarity, and brevity.

If you’re answering the other option, CREATING a gap (whether by choice or not) that gives you the ability to spend your time somehow before the program begins, you’ll want to approach it similarly, but this time, you may need to add a touch of justification, lest it arouse suspicion. Say, for example, that gap is six months, and there doesn’t seem to be any real reason for it. Here, you may have decided to travel the world, or learn a new language, or… you get the idea. Just about anything CAN be an amazing reason, we just need to be sold on it, is all. Brevity here is your best best best friend. A long optional essay can be a death sentence. Stay crisp, aim for 150-250 words.

The admissions team takes a holistic approach to application review and seeks to understand all aspects of a candidate’s character, qualifications, and experiences. We will consider achievements in the context of the opportunities available to a candidate. Some applicants may have faced hardships or unusual life circumstances, and we will consider the maturity, perseverance, and thoughtfulness with which they have responded to and/or overcome them.

We invite you to help us better understand the context of your opportunities and achievements.

They used to include this, we'll leave it here in case it helps provides some potential context for how you might think about the prompt:

[Old information, left here for your benefit]

1. What is the highest level of education completed by your parent(s) or guardian(s)? 
   • Did not complete high school
   • High school diploma or equivalency (GED)
   • Associate’s degree (junior college) or vocational degree/license
   • Bachelor’s degree (BA, BS)
   • Master’s degree (MA, MS)
   • Doctorate or professional degree (MD, JD, DDS)
2. What is the most recent occupation of your parent(s) or guardian(s)?
   • Unemployed
   • Homemaker
   • Laborer
   • Skilled worker
   • Professional
3. If you were raised in one of the following household types, please indicate.
   • Raised by a single parent
   • Raised by an extended family member (grandparent, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, cousin)
   • Raised in a multi-generational home
   • Raised in foster care
4. What was the primary language spoken in your childhood home?
5. If you have you ever been responsible for providing significant and continuing financial or supervisory support for someone else, please indicate.
   • Child
   • Spouse
   • Sibling
   • Parent
   • Extended family member (grandparent, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, cousin)
   • Other
6. Please elaborate on any of your above responses. Alternatively, you may use this opportunity to expand on other hardships or unusual life circumstances that may help us understand the context of your opportunities, achievements, and impact.

Okay, so first of all, for those first five, you might treat those like “filling out your basic information when you visit the dentist.” Nothing fancy, just simply answer the question.

For Number 6, this is where it gets somewhat interesting. Here’s the thing, you can either write about stuff, or not, depending on whether your story TRULY ADDS VALUE TO YOUR APP. We can’t make a blanket statement about what kinds of stories warrant inclusion compared to others… without knowing the full story. So, it’s a case-by-case thang. Here’s what we CAN say, in case it’s helpful:

1. Regardless of what your “status” is in life, whether socio-economic, or measured in some other way, if you have been on a certain trajectory, and then some personal, life circumstance KNOCKED YOU OFF OF THAT TRAJECTORY, and you succeeded IN SPITE OF IT, that may be a good indication of a publish-worthy story here. This shouldn’t be seen as a contest of whose life is most fraught with challenge. It has more to do with the EXTENT TO WHICH YOUR PROGRESS IN LIFE AND ALONG YOUR CAREER TRAJECTORY HAS BEEN FRUSTRATED by obstacles thrown at you, and only you. (In other words, obstacles that affect other folks, your competition, equally, don’t count here.)
2. Some stories that can and should be elaborated on here aren’t necessarily “overcame hardship” stories, but rather, super cool explorations of … something so cool and unique that that experience has given you SOMETHING valuable (1) for yourself and with respect to your own path, and also (2) that can be shared with your classmates, to their benefit. Again, what’s “cool” versus “not cool” in this context? “We’ll know it when we see it.” We wish we had a magic answer, but this is one of those rare instances where you just need a good eye to know what’s awesome and what FEEEEELS awesome, but is actually common, or worse, “not as compelling as you think it is.”
3. One guiding principle you can use is that IF you choose to write about something, it should build on your application strengths, and not just be an “oh, by the way, thought you should know this–––in case that’s of interest” kinda thing. The take-home MUST make the reader feel MORE confident about your “stock’s value” than the version that didn’t include it.

Generally, this question is designed to see how attentive you are to other factors and influences that might have shaped you. Those who have this awareness are generally humble, and observant, and self-aware, and mindful of how conditions in a system interact to produce outcomes. And that you, a single person, are likely not *the sole reason something succeeds.* The talented and skilled person who also comes loaded with these traits is far more ‘scalable’ that someone who has succeeded potentially impressively thus far, but harbors the sense that they are the sole architects of their success. That guy’s value tends to dry up quickly when released into the wild, and life circumstances complicate one person’s ability to produce an outcome by sheer will.

If you can acknowledge all the circumstances in your life that were ‘shaping’ factors, it will strengthen your case that you are the type of person most likely poised to succeed in the future, given the way you understand the multi-factorial reality of how outcomes are produced.

Impact Essay:

At Cornell, our students and alumni share a desire to positively impact the organizations and communities they serve. How do you intend to make a meaningful impact on the Johnson community? (350 words maximum)

Johnson is looking to kick a little bit of ass. Maybe they’re niggled by being ranked lower than they believe they deserve. Maybe it’s simply a mission to RISE UP for its own sake. Regardless, it’s clear that the way they wanna do that is by screening for your SPIRIT DRAGON score with respect to Johnson specifically. The thinking being… the more you’re utterly DEVOTED to Johnson, and only Johnson, the more likely you’ll dig your heels in, and energize the guy next to you, and the gal across the way, and through cohort cohesion, and passion, the likelihood for future success, and stronger “word of mouth” for top talent to “also that for themselves” … goes up.

Your mission here, like it or not, is to demonstrate (not argue)… demonstrate that you’ve come to the conclusion that the best version of your future self passes through the Johnson MBA, and you’ve come to that conclusion over the course of some serious research which includes some level of contact with folks who are at Johnson presently, or alums in some capacity. We prove that conviction by showing that your values align with Cornell’s stated values—i.e., that you have a clear plan for how to make an impact at Cornell (and beyond, on the broader Johnson network beyond the halls of Cornell itself).

It’s an interesting question. It’s one thing to have a sense of how you’re going to approach your own career goals and the intended impact those goals might have on others. But are you the kind of person whose presence, style, ideas, thoughtfulness, modeled behavior, etc. uplifts those around you, such that you’re indirectly improving *their* game along the way? It’s tough to be conscious of the ways in which you’re affecting others, unless you’ve gotten feedback from them, or, you’re intentional about things you do, with respect to uplifting or creating impact.

Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine the next 2-year MBA cohort at Cornell Johnson. They go to classes together, they hang out with each other outside of class. Some folks have met future business partners, others have leveraged new relationships to tap into networks that jumpstart new and exciting pivots, others simply divine a new business idea based on a wild happy hour, and so on. Stuff happens. And two years later, the entire class has achieved something, and leave Johnson ready to brave the real world (again). Suppose, as a class, they earn a score of “92.” And that 92 represents some kind of quantified notion of ‘what they were able to achieve, how good/potent they were, etc.’

Okay now re-imagine this scenario, except, introduce yourself INTO that cohort. So it’s that original cohort + YOU. You join those happy hours, you find some new friends and hang out with them, you’re in some of those classes, raising your hand and absorbing ideas from others, you’re a part of this thing for these two years. But at the end of that version, the total score for the entire cohort is not 92, but 93. Or 94. It’s been bumped somehow. Can you try to imagine what it is about your inclusion to this mix that somehow had a ripple effect, or made some kind of lasting impact on the school itself? Even if it’s unknowable in some ways by definition, the intention to have impact based on how you approach situations generally is very knowable. Try to find an example or two that you think might have enabled that hypothetical bump from 92 to 93, based on some value YOU added.

1. First define impact. What’s an example of it that you have seen someone else deliver such that you’re acutely aware of what it is and can be? Or that you’ve been a part of yourself? (50-75 words)
2. Provide a rationale for why this is even important. ‘Meeting the brief’ is to fulfill some kind of obligation. But some go beyond, and deliver value back to the organization or community of which they’re a part, and this is either an extra, or to some, an automatic part of it. Grapple with this concept to show that you ‘get’ it, and can articulate the value authentically. (50-75 words)
3. [This may seem like a lot of setup, but we can reorganize as need be; this is a useful process to get a solid first draft.] Now start getting into your plans for translating this to Cornell Johnson. What is that organization and community, and what does it mean to you, and how, therefore - given your relationship with organizations you feel connected to - will you be committed to going above and beyond mere participation? (125-175 words)
4. You can get a little philosophical at the end and talk a little about how this should be a part of anyone’s formula for any engagement with any organization/community, making a case for why. Everyone’s case will be slightly different, and therein lies the opportunity to learn something about how you’re wired. (25-75 words) 

—Or—

The Unique Trait that Defines Me:

What is something unique about you that others will remember you by? (350 words maximum)

Hm. 350 words is a LOT for this prompt. The only credible way to fill this space is through stories and examples that illustrate any claim about what might make you unique. But ‘that’s the real trick isn’t it.’ What qualifies as unique? Well, Cornell makes it a little easier by adding the piece about ‘that others will remember you by.’ This makes your job harder in one sense because it raises the bar. But also easier because it narrows our options. Think about that for a second. What does it take to be memorable? There are ‘bad’ ways to qualify (ha! Let’s avoid those of course). But the good ways typically result from being ‘unboxable.’ Just made up that word, cuz it’s fun. What does that mean, unboxable?

We humans receive new inputs and immediately want to ‘sort’ and ‘categorize’ them in order to make sense of them. ‘I recognize this new input as being similar in kind to this other thing I already know and therefore I can now make some assumptions about it, recognize it, make predictions, etc.’ It’s basic, DNA, lizard brain stuff. But over time, these ‘boxes’ that we’ve put items into, become (by definition) filled with things that are all alike, and therefore not that distinct from one another, otherwise they’d have gotten their own box. 

When something comes along and doesn’t immediately fit into a box, it stirs our brains a bit. And forces us to find either a new box, or simply treat it as its own thing. This is one way of understanding why things are memorable. There’s some aspect of it that makes it … different from others in its class, ‘such that it can’t truly be placed in the same box.’ It’s not just a special feature, necessarily, but could be the combination of features that don’t typically go together that makes you unique. For example, a blue collar worker who loves Broadway musicals. Or a person who grew up in Laos, became an award-winning novelist (in English) and learned how to speak English by watching 80s Hollywood comedies as a kid. Or someone who ‘played sports in high school’ (so far, just like pretty much 70% of the population) but then decided to devote her entire self to becoming an Olympian athlete, and did, and took Gold (all of a sudden, this gal cannot be placed in the box with that other guy who ‘played on his Junior Varsity volleyball team’ for one year as a high school Junior). See how these exceptional traits or combinations/juxtapositions of traits can combine to warrant ‘a new box’? This is one way to begin ideating on what kinds of stuff might make you unique in a memorable way. Once you’ve got your topic, now let’s write it:

1.  Set us up for something ‘expected.’ Warm us up in a way where we’re pretty much good to go in terms of ‘what box to put you in’ until… you complicate and surprise us and make it so that we go ‘wait, didn’t see that coming’ or ‘whoa, I don’t know *what* to do with that!’ The key here is to not get ahead of yourself and to prepare your reader for something familiar, only to shake it up… and knock us off balance. (50-100 words)
2. Now introduce the complicating element(s), and tell the story finding opportunities to imagine what the reader’s expectations might be, and to use that to draw a contrast to what you bring to the table that’s different, whether a feature on its own, or a normal feature that - when combined with another ‘normal feature’ - combines to create a unique product! (125-175 words)
3. What was the origin story behind this/you? What were the shaping factors? How has this unique trait worked out for you? What are other examples of where this manifests whether in the workplace, or beyond? And what are the implications for how this thing that’s a part of you will play out in the future? Even if it’s a thing that’s ‘irrelevant’ or ‘frivolous’ … the way in which you ‘utilize’ or ‘own’ it can absolutely be a defining trait and tell us a lot about you, such that it’ll make you memorable. (50-100 words)

Fuqua prides itself on cultivating a culture of engagement. Our students enjoy a wide range of student-led organizations that provide opportunities for leadership development and personal fulfillment, as well as an outlet for contributing to society. Our student-led government, clubs, centers, and events are an integral part of the student culture and to the development of leaders. Based on your understanding of the Fuqua culture, what are 3 ways you expect to contribute at Fuqua?

Your response will be limited to 1 page (500 words maximum).

Your ultimate goal here? To elicit a reader response that goes something like:

• “Yep, this kid clearly bleeds Duke.”
• “Yep, this kid is gonna light a fire here.”
• “Yep.” {Translation: I believe the commitment behind their words here.}

The key to this question is… are you convincing? This is the part, folks, where what you say matters less than how you say it. It is very possible to say all the right things. To indicate that you are going to start Club X, and to engage in Duke Thing Y, and to contribute Awesome Thing Z thing to the Duke community. But how? By doing research, by organizing your arguments so that they are logically sound, seem well considered, etc.

But… if the Adcom thinks that you would probably pick, say, Darden or Ross or Yale SOM over Duke, none of those arguments will weigh much. What you need to achieve is the exact opposite. Let’s take those statements above and ADD another crucial one:

• “If we admit this kid, there is an unbelievably good chance he’s gonna accept, regardless of where else he gets in.”

If you establish THIS as your burden, it will (it should, anyway) focus your approach to this response in an excellent way. Imagine, for example, that your reader does NOT believe that you are sincere in your stated desire to attend Duke. How would you use this essay prompt to convince him/her otherwise? Address the elements in this question, but in reality, prove to the reader that no matter how many acceptance letters you receive, Duke is the place you are going to engage with the most.

Now. How exactly do you do that? Well for starters it helps if that’s actually the case, ha! But let’s suppose your are business-school-agnostic at this stage, and simply want to attend whichever TOP MBA program accepts you. Allow yourself to APPEAR to be that first guy, the one who would rather attend Duke than Harvard. In order to achieve that, you need to demonstrate two things:

1) Demonstrate Deep Knowledge For What Makes Fuqua… Fuqua.

In other words, if the Duke experience is supposedly different from the Yale experience, or the Ross experience, how so? (And then map those differences to things you need – THROUGH your explanation for how you will engage in the Duke community.)

2) Make an Emotional Argument for why Duke Revs You Up.

Show how Duke fulfills something inside you that another school doesn’t. Or, why Duke’s version is somehow more appealing to you. This is art, not science. Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend? Husband? Wife? Child? Can you explain to someone why you like this person? Try it. Do it on paper. Maybe it starts with “quantifiable” traits. But hopefully, at some point, you reach a moment where you find yourself… unable to quantify the way a loved one makes you feel. Try – like hell – to explain IN WORDS what that thing is. What your emotion is, and how this person elicits that emotion. You won’t be able to, or you may discover a way to. It’s all gold. All of it. Take a look and see what that looks like, and then see if you can adapt it to the Duke community somehow.

When you put all of that stuff together, you should end up with some interesting stuff in your first draft. Here’s one version of an outline that may help kick things off:

1. Set the frame. Remind us of your ultimate goal, what skills are required for one to succeed at that level, and what kinds of things you have yet to learn, areas you’re hoping to develop, ways in which you’re hoping to grow. Then explain how not just any business school the *the right* business school is exactly what you need to get all that. (75 words)
2. Go deeper on what you’re looking to get out of a B-school, given that initial context. Paint a picture of the experience you’re hoping for––first as a participant IN activities that are available to you. But then, as a contributor TO. Make an argument for why this type of engagement will confer a benefit to you and everyone involved, and how the cumulative effect on that, makes for a richer MBA experience. Connect it to some bigger picture aim, where you're headed, and how this experience (as you imagine it) advances you toward that picture. (75 words)
3. Now get really, really specific. Your task is to do two things at once here: (1) show us how much thought you’ve put into how you want to get the most out of business school, and in so doing (2) reveal just how much *research* you’ve done into what business school is like, and more specifically what Duke Fuqua is like, such that you’re able to go deeper than just a superficial wisp of an idea. (225-275 words)
4. Lastly, see if you can somehow explain where this sense came from. Give us a taste of the research, the “due diligence” that led to your conclusions. This is also the section where you may wanna “fumble” around those inexplicable reasons that are emotional at their core. Get a little lost in your excitement for attending Duke and earning an MBA here, and show us just how ready you are to explode onto the scene. (75-100 words)

That gets you to a decent first draft.

Check out our analysis for Optional Essays for MBA applications here!

Motivation Essay 1

Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (Maximum 500 words)

This has been an INSEAD staple for a few years now. The only real change here is in word count. Now, the one thing they haven’t done here, which they should have, is to distinguish between a passive description and an active one. A passive description just tells you about something, and it ends there. “The ink stain is permanent.” “This coffee is very hot.” Thanks, but we don’t want ‘passive.’ We want that other thing — the description that teaches us something. Makes us develop an ATTITUDE about the subject.

“The ink stain is permanent, and it’s a good thing—I don’t ever want to forget the day the woman I fell in love with haplessly broke the cartridge over my white shirt. Crazy as it may sound, this blemish is a living monument of her innocence.”

Oh, so… the ink stain being permanent here was a GOOD thing! Hah! Without that context, we had no idea. Context, folks. Your job here is to describe yourself… with context. Give us a reason to learn something about you. Adjectives by themselves are meaningless.

How can you figure out WHICH characteristics give you your color? Have contributed to your personal development? Make you… you? (And not just “you” but… interesting, compelling, worth meeting, etc.)? That’s the hard part, isn’t it. Here are some tips to help:

• Has there been a moment in your life where you experienced a fundamental SHIFT in thinking? And we’re not talking about switching from Coke to Pepsi, but rather, an EPIC shift in worldview?
• Was there ever a moment where you acted in a way that was truly SURPRISING to others? And even to yourself? Where you went against the grain?
• Was there ever a moment that challenged you to your core? Requiring considerable strength or courage to overcome?

Defining moments that taught you something about what you were made of… really made of. Strengths and weaknesses are fair game here. Acknowledging weakness can be a sign of GREAT strength, and can be extraordinarily appealing. The guy who can introspect like that probably cares about improving. That’s the guy I want on my team, not the guy who is comfortable with finding himself to be flawless, beyond reproach, etc. Don’t shy away from this, if you have a neat weakness to talk about. Humility (especially in Europe) can go a long way.

Outlines for this essay can take many shapes and forms. But consider hitting these pieces in whatever you end up with:

• Provide examples of the traits. In fact, walk us through an action that DEMONSTRATES the trait over merely telling us about it.
• But then, make sure you give a reason we should care—this is the “context” we alluded to above. So what, the ink stain is permanent. Give us the VALUE.

Motivation Essay 2

Consider a situation where you failed to achieve your objective(s). How did you handle failure? What did you learn about yourself and/or your interactions with others from this situation? (Maximum 400 words)

Why would a business school ask this question? Think about this for a second. Elite MBA programs are looking to invest in the most potent future business leaders. What is there to gain from learning about a time an applicant has failed? Lots. But what precisely?

• Are you more interested in winning? Or are you more interested in being the person responsible for the win?
• How good are you at solving problems? Analyzing complex scenarios and divining sharp insights?
• How do you perform when things don’t go your way? Do you pout, or do you scrape yourself off the mat and get back into the arena and figure out what went wrong so that you gain from the experience and improve?

A good failure story takes us back to the scenario, at a time where you understood the solution to be *different* from the one you ultimately learned was necessary. It helps to understand your prior perspective, in order for the ‘lessons learned’ to really pack punch. But it isn’t just about what you learned (which is part of it), but rather, how you went about learning those lessons. What was your process for doing the autopsy? How did you determine where things went wrong, and how did that ‘update your algorithm’? Listening to your internal dialogue here is critical. Don’t get ahead of yourself and talk about this experience from the ‘you now’ perspective, i.e., the version that has digested the lesson. What we want to get a sense of is the manner in which you gained that lesson. We want to see it working in real time. Why? This gives us a sense of how potent your ‘problem solving’ powers are, which gives us the strongest clue about how you’ll fare in future tough situations. This is what they’re trying to get a sense of.

Here’s a way to structure it:

1. Give us the problem / objective, and your initial plan for solving it, justifying your rationale given your mindset *then.* (Yes, this will feel weird, we’re asking you to remember what it felt like to be confident about the wrong solution, and to sell it here.) (75 words)
2. Now tell us what went wrong. Be matter of fact, just convey it. (50 words)
3. Now let’s get into the actions you took to audit the failure. Give us those details and show us how you processed your findings. What were you seeing? How did it disagree with prior assumptions? How did you know which questions to ask? Did it feel bad to have been a part of a failure? Let’s talk about that component as well: how did you will yourself to shake that off and figure out what went wrong, and get over that negative feeling? This is all part of the *meat* of this essay. Bring us deep into this entire journey from thinking one way initially, to asking the right questions and pushing yourself to dig, to then developing a new understanding. The lessons are secondarily important; the manner in which you sought (and divined) those answers is primary. (125-175 words)
4. Let’s get into the lessons and how this opened things up for you, and what it felt like to be wrong, but how much better it felt to have a better sense after the fact, thanks to your openness to understanding the situation. How did this experience affect the way you approach newer problems, not necessarily tied to the specifics of the lessons of this exact anecdote, but more broadly? This is where we want to get a sense that your prior potential in the business world was X, but now it’s X+. What’s the “+” and how might it materialize in a future situation? (100-125 words)

The optional essay and our stance on it has changed over the years (for more on that, read this). Years ago we’d say to do it always-no-matter-what. Then schools seemed to make a POINT of not wanting stuff they didn’t specifically ask for. And now, given the trend toward shorter and more targeted applications, it can go either way.

Generally, if a school gives you a berth, take it. Haas is giving you that berth here, so, if you have something to say that hasn’t been covered elsewhere, say it. (If you’re working with a solid admissions consultant, you may want to run it by him/her to get a seasoned opinion.)

For those whose quantitative abilities may be questionable, either through a not-mind-blowing GMAT score, or through a career arc where those abilities aren’t necessarily evident, this is an excellent space to make a great case for yourself.

But even beyond that, the best way to approach this is to consider all the dimensions which give your candidacy real MIGHT, and differentiation power against the competition. Then review what stuff you’ve covered in your other essays, and where there are HOLES, it MAY be something you can address here. It tends to be less helpful when you double-up on a trait, with presumably a not-as-good-story-as-the-one-you’ve-already-told-elsewhere. A “second” impact story, for example. It’s more powerful if you’ve come across as the Indian IT tech guy with mad quant skills, but you also have this insane depth of experience with volunteer/community work that looks completely different from the typical MBA applicant. This could be a place to explore that. Or if you’re Chinese with an interest in finance, is there some aspect to your international travels that makes you seem utterly different from your demographic? This could be a spot to explore that.

Whatever you do, don’t play defense here and say stuff just to say stuff. More like: imagine a blank canvas and a shot to say EVERYTHING AWESOME you need to say; imagine it’s FIVE things, and you’ve been able to cover THREE of them in the other essays. Great, pick one of the two things you haven’t covered (whichever promotes your multi-dimensionality the MOST), and dig in right here.

Whatever you do, this is NOT the place to meander and be verbose. The optional essay is all about extreme efficiency, and matter-of-fact-ness.

Optional Essay

You may use this essay to call attention to items needing clarification and to add additional details to any aspects of your application that do not accurately reflect your potential for success at Johnson. (350 words maximum)

Check out our analysis for the Optional Essay here.

Re-Applicant Essay

Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee? (maximum 300 words)

Check out our analysis of the Optional Essay here.

*Updated September 2024*

Wharton MBA Essay 1

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

We love using “Before and After” to tease out meaningful insights into… things. Lots. O. Things. This is another good opportunity. Let’s take ten minutes to do a little exercise and see what that looks like:

Wherever you are right now (self-employed entrepreneur, consultant, banker, marketing associate, whatever), imagine the next five years of your life WITHOUT passing through Wharton Business School. Don’t just say, “K, gotcha,” actually imagine it. Write it out even. On the left side of your “paper” draw a tiny circle that says “TODAY” then draw a long horizontal line all the way to the right of the paper and draw a second circle, “FIVE YEARS FROM NOW.”

Now let’s start filling this in with additional circles, but also, with content that can be compared. You COULD describe yourself today in terms of your WEIGHT, and then project what you think it’ll be, or want it to be, five years from now. You could also do it in terms of “marathons completed.” You could do “average number of hours slept per night.” As you can see, there are many ways to define the “Today You” versus the “5 Years From Now You”—the key thing is that to show PROGRESS, we need to measure both present and future by the same metric.

For our purposes here, we wanna focus on what are you CAPABLE of doing, professionally. Let’s start with what you HOPE TO BE CAPABLE OF five years from now, that you know you CAN’T QUITE PULL OFF today. What are the three to five bullets you wanna be capable of in FIVE YEARS? What are you aiming at? Write em down. Then do the same for who you are TODAY. List a few KEY bullets about what your skill set as it is today enables you to achieve. If you’re an entrepreneur, you can define it in a bunch of ways: “I can easily manage a team of five, I can grow my business 1.5x, I can…” If you’re a consultant at McKinsey, you’ll have a different version. So, fill in that second circle, and then the first. Hopefully much or all of that future list EXCEEDS your current skill level today, otherwise, you may be flatlining (which is fine, but not quite what business schools are looking for).

Now there’s all this SPACE in between. The intervening years. Walk us through maybe two or three nodes that might reveal key turning point moments, milestones, whatever, that propel you toward that future node. A promotion perhaps to a new role with new responsibilities that will allow you to learn new skills? A gig at a new and bigger company which then allows you to… xyz? Whatever those things are, lay them out on this timeline. Keep it simple, two to three circles and maybe one or two bullets for each explaining em.

Once you’re done, you should end up with an ARC that describes where you can go in five years (rather, what professional GROWTH you can experience)… WITHOUT attaining an MBA from Wharton. This shouldn’t be a bad arc, it should be a great one. Cuz what if you don’t get in? That shouldn’t stop you from CRUSHING your aspirations.

But now, you’re gonna do this process over. But this time you’re gonna do it LEFT TO RIGHT. Start with that left circle (the present), and DUPLICATE exactly “who you are professionally today.” And now play out the next five years, but maybe in the next circle, or perhaps two circles from now, you’re gonna include a NEW circle that’s gonna change the game completely. It’ll say “Wharton” and above it, will be the word “booya,” perhaps, or a thumbs up emoji. What does the NEXT circle look like NOW? And the next? And what does the FINAL “Five Years From Now” circle look like? If you do this correctly, that FINAL CIRCLE should look somewhat DIFFERENT from the first one you made. This is where your answer to this first Wharton prompt will be revealed… “what did you gain professionally from Wharton, that explains the DELTA between the first and second versions of this exercise?”

Once you’ve gotten a sense of what that difference is, now you can apply it to the actual essay. Keep in mind that only the first sentence of the prompt is actually asking us something. We “might consider” the elements listed in the second sentence, and a good essay will likely have some of them, but there’s no need to stress about fitting all those things in. The key thing is the overall career arc:

1. This is the problem I wanna solve, or the opportunity I’m gonna take advantage of. This is my ultimate vision, not so much in terms of job titles I want, but the impact it’s all gonna have. Lemme sell you here on what results FROM my success. [100-125 words]
2. This is my track record to-date, skills I have, proof that I’m credible in attacking this stuff. But, in order to achieve ABC aspects of my goals, I’m lacking XYZ. [125-150 words]
3. While I can get these things at any business school, here are the specific ways in which the WHARTON VERSION will help me develop professionally … in the most profound manner. [150 words]
4. Once equipped with the Wharton MBA, here’s a sneak peek at a very thoughtful short-term plan that follows, and a recap of how this all propels me to the BEST version of my long-term vision. [75 words]

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

Examples of possible responses:

• “Work in business development for a media company.”
• “Join a strategy consulting firm.”
• “Launch a data-management start-up.”

That’s right, folks. 50 characters. This question used to be 200 characters. Then it was 100. A few years ago it was 75.

CBS is not fooling around – they want you to get to the point. And fast. 50 characters isn’t dinner, a stroll around the park, a lovely nightcap against a backdrop of smooth jazz, into “who knows.” It’s more… the 1-hour motel model. Lay it on ’em.

Perhaps the most liberating way to approach this is to see this NOT as an opportunity to impress, but rather to inform. All they want is a RUDDER to help frame the rest of your essays. That’s all. It’s the equivalent of “state your name and occupation” – a measure taken just so everyone has their bearings.

Ergo, don’t overthink it.

The prize here is clarity, not intrigue. Don’t feel the pressure to wow. And don’t waste precious air-time writing stuff like “My immediate post-MBA professional goal is to…” because that would have been half your response. 1-hour motel, folks. Getterdone. Résumé-like brevity, but… good-résumé-like CLARITY.

Once you lock your strategic application positioning in general, and develop a clear, precise brand for what makes you the strongest possible applicant… just say it as clearly and leanly as you can. In going from longer character allowances in the past to the current limit of 50, CBS is sending a message, which is that anything that gets in the way of their understanding of what your immediate goal is, is simply unwelcome.

Got it? Noice. Onward…

INSEAD MBA Video Interview Information

Shortly after completing your INSEAD MBA online application, you will receive an e-mail notification from Kira Talent with a unique link to complete 4 video interviews. The video interviews are a unique opportunity for you to share your passions, your motivations and who you truly are. The MBA Admissions Committee is interested in obtaining an authentic view of you as a person, to see how you think on your feet and how you convey your ideas. The video interviews do not replace the face-to-face interviews with Alumni. Your application will be considered as complete and ready to be reviewed only once we have received your answers to the video interviews. Please complete your video interviews at your earliest convenience and no later than 48 hours after the deadline to which you are applying.

For something like this, where you’re going in a bit blind… the goal is to be “Stump-Proof.” What does that mean? It means, you need to show up on D-Day, and be prepared to be asked ANY four questions, and not get stumped, get all cotton-mouthed, and sweaty, and flub your way through those 60-second clips. Easy enough right?!

Hardly. Being “stump-proof” is hard. Some folks are born with it. For the rest of us, it takes some work. And luckily, there is work we CAN do to chip away at this challenge. Check out our Video Essay Analysis here––same principles apply!

*Updated Sep 2024*

Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words)

This is as bog standard as it gets. But, to Kellogg’s credit, ‘the ballgame.’ Points for not asking dumb questions to try to play footsie. “Say what you mean to say, Kellogg!” Something TO that.

Let’s review the key elements they’ve outlined––and these should be extremely familiar to you by now, if you’ve dug it at all to the MBA application journey:

1. Articulate your motivations for pursuing an MBA. Why not just pursue your goals… raw?!
2. What goals are you aiming to achieve (by way of this MBA program; i.e., at business school/through these two years)?
3. Why now and not a few years prior, or a few years later?
4. And how might Kellogg catalyze your career more meaningfully than a nearby M7 program?

Let’s take these one by one:

[1] Articulate your motivations for pursuing an MBA. Why not just pursue your goals… raw?!

There’s one kinda dumb point to make, which we’ll just get out of the way. ‘Having’ an MBA might make you more potent in the job market. Sorta. Depends. And in some cases it doesn’t matter if you actually ‘learned’ anything. Just the fact of having those three letters next to your name makes some person in a position of ‘needing your services’ be instantly impressed. Is that a good enough reason to pursue it? Honestly? Yeah. But okay. It serves us ‘not at all’ to reckon with this, so let’s push this aside. It’s not like we can say this on an application and Kellogg’s goes “They get it!”

So forget all that. Let’s consider the need for an MBA ‘at all’ as though it offered some meaningful utility to you and your eventual goals, from a ‘can achieve more with this thing’ standpoint. Just suppose for a hot second that you didn’t pursue an MBA at all. Now what? Shrivel up, find a corner, hug your knees, and weep? Nah man. You, I hope (?), pursue your goals, you freak. How? The way that the vast majority of humans might, the one who don’t have MBAs and are plenty successful: see the vast majority of non-MBAs who are plenty successful. How’d they do it? The normal way: grinding, pushing themselves, identifying opportunities for growth and development, growing and developing, accumulating leverage, trading that leverage for promotions, salary bumps, or perhaps pivoting, fill in the blank here, climbing the ladder, advancing, something. Just throw a rock at a semi-successful non-MBA in the business realm and you’ll find an endless well of examples of how fruitful careers might materialize. What’s your non-MBA version? What would your plan be? Think about your goal. And now chart out a road map that doesn’t pass through an elite MBA (or even an MBA of any kind) and figure out the best possible way in which you might achieve a great version of your goals. How’d you do it? What were you able to achieve? How? What made that success possible?

Now ask yourself this: but with an MBA, could that achievement be different? If so, different how? Bigger? New dimension to the success? Whatever the case, there must be some way in which this alternate scenario is notably different from the non-MBA version. If you can wrap your mind around what that is, congrats. You’ve just figured out the thing you’re hoping to achieve through an MBA. Write that down. Being as specific as you can about what specific aspects of Scenario 2 were conferred BY the process of achieving that MBA––the training, the exposure, the network explosion, the skill building, the weakness-shoring, all of it.

[2] What goals are you aiming to achieve (by way of this MBA program; i.e., at business school/through these two years)?

You’ll quickly start to see that the first question and this second question… go together. They are, in fact, one. Whatever you’re aiming to achieve (by way of this MBA program, i.e., at business school) *is* your motivation for pursuing an MBA in the first place. So, you’re welcome, two questions for the price of one, wahoo! Next!

[3] Why now and not a few years prior, or a few years later?

Why is the timing important? This is a very interesting opportunity for you to create real distance between you and your nearby competitors. While most might be able - after some careful consideration - to fashion a compelling-enough rationale for pursuing an MBA, harder to answer is the question of YOU KNOW WHAT BUT WHY NOW THOUGH? (That’s a Key & Peele reference for any fans out there.)

The logic behind ‘why now’ says a lot about how good a planner you are, and how much you ‘get’ about solving problems effectively. Think about *any* business problem. Every single decision has (should have) a tactical underpinning. The most bankable successes are folks who apply sound solution to the right problems at the right time. Think about your achieving your goals as a problem that needs solving. Where part of the ‘best’ solution includes your pursuing an MBA at this moment. One helpful thought exercise is to play out three scenarios:

• Scenario 1: Imagine what it would have been like to have pursued your MBA one or two years ago.
• Scenario 2: Now imagine what it would be like to WAIT a few years and then get your MBA.
• Scenario 3: Finally, imagine doing it ‘now.’

Can you sell us on how Scenarios 1 and 2 may lead to decent outcomes, but not the optimal one? What is it about what you have learned thus far that will enable you to extract MORE from an MBA, compared to if you’d pursued it earlier? What might be lost or wasted if you were to wait? Why then is Scenario 3 the Goldilocks version where the timing makes the most logical sense? If you can articulate this succinctly, it tells us not that your reasoning is sound, but rather, that you are a sound reasoner. That, friends, is something an MBA program is looking to invest in.

[4] And how might Kellogg catalyze your career more meaningfully than a nearby M7 program?

Now, it gets a little tricky. Business schools know you’re not just applying to Kellogg. They may even expect that you’re applying to ‘shinier’ programs out there. They know the list. Nearby U Chicago. Not so nearby but threats like other, higher-ranked M7 programs. They know the list, all too well. (That’s for the Swifties.)

Why is that important. Because Kellogg isn’t dumb. If you were to make it seem like there’s no possible way to achieve what you’re hoping to achieve BUT THROUGH Kellogg, it will come off not only disingenuous, but… silly. A more reasoned, sober approach is the way to go. What if you were to openly acknowledge (not directly necessarily but through your ‘posture’) that you get that you would do just fine to travel through ANY strong MBA program and extract tons of value because, honestly, that’s what they want: someone who is adaptable, not fragile or limited. The question then is, what is it about you, and your goals, and your learning and leadership and business style that might benefit in a particular way from what Kellogg has to offer? In order to nail this component, you need to articulate what it is you would most benefit from *a* business program, given who you are and what your specific goals are. Then, once you’ve laid out this argument in the abstract, now it’s time to make a case that there are specific things about Kellogg that, having done your homework, you feel may bring out an even better version of you than another (otherwise equally-matched) opportunity. To pull *this* off, it will help to have visited the school, talked to current and former students, researched the living hell out of the program leveraging every resource available to you. And being very specific about identifying not just the specific opportunities by name but articulating the way in which those opportunities will combine best with you and your specific needs and goals.

Here’s how you might organize it on your first go:

1. Open with a broad statement of what it is you’re hoping to achieve. Super big picture. What’s the opportunity? Or the problem you’re hoping to solve? What does the impact look like of a successful effort here? What has changed? Improved? This should be impossibly big picture, but important to get a sense of what the end goal is. (75-100 words)
2. Now, explain why it is that you can’t just carry on doing what you’re doing to achieve the biggest and best version of that. Sure you can achieve some version, but not *the* version that motivates you. What skills do you have that enable you to be credible for pursuing it in the first place? And that give us any reason to expect for you to be successful? Now, and here’s the key, what’s holding you back? What’s missing? What stuff do you need? Remember that exercise we did above? This is where that comes together, and you explain the reason you need an MBA, and what you know you’re going to extract from a top program. (125-150 words)
3. Now, explain why the earlier or later version isn’t as good as the now version. How does this make sense when you consider your goals as a problem to solve, and where pursuing an MBA *now* is an important feature to the best solution? (100-125 words)
4. Finally, explain what type of business school would match precisely what you need in order to succeed. What aspects of a learning environment, resources, opportunities would be ideal not just given your goals, but given that *you* are the one pursuing those goals. You need to connect very specific features of yourself, your skills, your whims, your quirks, your optimal conditions for success TO this ‘ideal’ program, initially in the abstract. THEN, and only then, reveal that after all your research, you have found that there are several features of Kellogg specifically, that elevate *your* confidence that this is the place where you are most likely to develop the best version of a person intent on achieving your goals. (100-125 words)

That’ll get you a credible first draft.

The Roy H. Park Leadership Fellows Program is a two-year, full-tuition fellowship award for domestic Two-Year MBA candidates who have demonstrated outstanding leadership potential and who are committed to making an impact within their communities. Each year, fellowships are awarded to up to 25 incoming students with the expectation that they will participate in additional leadership and personal development activities outside of our regular curriculum, serve in leadership roles within the school, and complete a public service project by the time they graduate. The Park Fellowship is only available to U.S. citizens applying for the Two-Year MBA program.

Candidates being considered for the Roy H. Park Leadership Fellowship will be notified after their admissions interview with an invitation to join us for one of our virtual Leadership Exploration and Assessment Day (L.E.A.D.) events. Candidates invited to attend a LEAD event will be required to submit a response to the Park Fellows Essay.

Park Leadership Fellows Program Essay Prompt (500 word limit):

Describe a past formal or informal leadership experience and how it informs your goals for growth as a leader. How would the Park Leadership Fellowship assist with these goals?

Most top business school MBA matriculants are expected to be current and future leaders. So what then is different about the 25 folks hack-picked to be a part of this unique fellowship? Think of the Park Leadership Fellowship as a kind of incubator, designed to cultivate the leadership skills and potential of 25 individuals with either unique goals and/or special leadership potential, or both. The goals you’re committed to may be so unique, and inspiring in their aims (usually more impact-oriented for this fellowship) that Cornell wants to throw some more resources your way to support. Or, your potential as someone with leadership potential itself is special enough that it’s the talent Cornell hopes to enhance. In your essay, you’ll want to be aware of both of these dimensions as they pertain to your chosen stories/situation before you begin.

1. Before diving into the past, start by painting a picture of where you’re headed, and what’s driving you. What impact are you hoping to achieve, and why is it meaningful? (75 words)
2. Take us back to a time when you had a meaningful leadership experience (just as the prompt says, whether formal or informal), and first tell us what happened. Set up the situation: what was the goal, what was at stake, what made it challenging simply to execute (notice how we haven’t talked about the leadership aspect yet… that’s coming up)? (75-100 words)
3. Now, talk about the experience as the leader, and specifically what made the leadership aspect interesting, difficult, inspiring, whatever pertains to your story. Take us through your thought process as you were going through it, what were you noticing, where were you struggling, or succeeding, how were you navigating curveballs, how were you understanding the potential of what it might be to lead more / different things like this, i.e., did this inspire you or propel you toward a new/different goal, or stretch your idea of what you might be able to achieve within this domain? Lots of possibilities here, but the key is, this was somehow fundamental or formative in igniting some aspect of ‘belief’ in you that you took with you, and is a part of your motivating force today. Take us through all that. (125-150 words)
4. Tell us about the type of leader you are today, and where you’re hoping to push things, and what’s required of the type of leader associated with the vision you laid out at the very beginning. There’s distance between your skill set and experience today and that future person you’re describing. Name it, be specific. (75 words)
5. Now, point by point, being as specific as possible, showing your research, show us how specific features and opportunities of the Park Leadership Fellows Program will sharpen your skills, plug gaps, expose you to crucial new things, experiences, people, etc. Be specific, show ‘your work’ (the research). (75-100 words)

That’ll get you a solid first draft that’ll have the key starting ingredients.

If you feel there are circumstances of which the admissions committee should be aware (such as unexplained gaps in work, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance), please explain them in an optional essay. Please do not upload additional essays or additional recommendations in this area of the application, and limit your response to one page.

Read our team’s take on how to tackle the MBA Optional Essay.

Why do you prefer the January-entry term? (50 characters maximum)

First of all, see our response to Short Answer 1 for a sense of what 50 characters is. ‘Not much’ is what we’re dealing with. 

We love ‘deltas’ as a way of locating salient points. In this case, what are your alternatives for matriculation? Now CBS gives nudges you along by choosing the word ‘prefer’ to imply that those other choices are available to you, and are perfectly viable choices for someone else with different needs. Why then is the January-entry term your preferred option? It should be evident from your response that your reason draws a sharp contrast to those alternatives. 50 characters. Get it.

*Updated October 2024*

Wharton MBA Essay 2

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

The crux of the question is understanding (truly understanding) what makes a “specific, meaningful contribution.” Let’s break this down:

• Specific: We’re not talking about character traits or general business skills here, folks. “I will bring to campus my ability to lead teams” is not going to cut it. The adcom wants to know exactly how you plan to contribute—specific events, organizations and projects where you can make an impact. Show the adcom that you’ve done your research on the Wharton community, have identified a niche where you can help, and have an actionable plan for what you’re going to do when you arrive on campus.
• Meaningful: The worst thing you can do with a prompt like this is boldly declare that you are going to contribute something which every single student in the school is expected to have. “I will contribute my leadership skills.” Cool, so will every single other person in the class! A meaningful contribution is one that stands out and adds value that only a handful of other applicants might be able to provide. The value added should also align with Wharton’s values, and the goals of whatever specific part of the Wharton community you are planning to contribute to.

Start by doing your research. Look around the Wharton website, identifying classes, projects or organizations you’re interested in. Then—and this is CRUCIAL—leave the Wharton website and never go back! The adcom helped write that website, and we don’t want to just parrot their words back at them. Look for student blogs, the websites of student organizations and other outside sources of information. Better yet, talk to current students and alumni about the contributions you’re hoping to make. See what they think of your idea! You may find that something you thought Wharton really needs actually already exists.

Next, write down a few contributions which you feel meet the “specific” and “meaningful” criteria. List more than you’ll need to write the essay—a half dozen plus. Then flesh them out. How will your proposed contribution positively affect another individual, a group of individuals, and eventually… the Wharton community? Sell us on it. Show us in a way we can picture. We need to be able to imagine a few years at Wharton WITHOUT YOU, and then those same few years WITH YOU. And we should be able to see clearly (in our minds) that the version WITH YOU is somehow better. THAT’s your challenge here, to make that case apparent. Once you’ve done that for each of your potential contributions, identify 2-4 where the delta between “Wharton with this contribution” and “Wharton without this contribution” is largest. Those the contributions around which you should write this essay.

A few other tips:

• Back up your promises with examples. Let’s say you plan to contribute by leading a Wharton intramural soccer team. Great! Prove that you’re the person for the job by explaining how you did a similar thing at your prior employer, leading the company team to five straight championships.
• Aim for a bit of variety. The adcom wants us to take into consideration your “personal, professional and/or academic” background. You don’t need to have one example each or anything like that, but try not to have every single one of your contributions fit into the same category.
• Add some fun. Show the adcom that your being on campus will be a positive for your classmates’ social lives, not just the academic environment. A lot of the value of an MBA comes from networking, and friendly, outgoing, entertaining people make networking a lot easier.

Rock and roll, comrades. Curious to see what y’all churn out.

Usually goes something like: How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally.

Who here has seen the movie Iron Man?

Well for those of you who haven’t seen it, (1) see it, it’s pretty tight and (2) here’s a bit of background before I make my patented absurd (but well-intended) analogy. Tony Stark is a pre-eminent industrialist, with an unusual brain for science and mechanics. He makes his fortune as CEO of a company that manufactures and distributes military weapons. Caught in the cross-fire of an unanticipated ambush, Stark’s body (and heart) is riddled with shrapnel. A hare’s breath away from death, a device connected to his heart (powered by an external battery) keeps him alive, barely. Trapped in a cave and held hostage by terrorists, he’s forced to build them a weapon of mass destruction. Instead, he (a prodigious inventor/savant) builds himself a suit made out of iron… and escapes from the clutches of the extremists. The suit that he builds under duress, is JUST GOOD ENOUGH to enable his escape, but is worthless afterwards. It was clunky, bulky, inefficient… but barely worked. Time passes, and safe at home now, Stark sets his mind to building a NEW SUIT. This time, now that he knows what he is capable of, he does everything perfectly. And the suit is lean, efficient, has new capabilities: it’s an absolute thing of perfection.

Phew. Now, for all you re-applicants, here’s what happened. The first time around, you guys built a suit that was juuuuuust good enough to get yourselves out of that cave. But it was clunky. Bulky. Inefficient. Lacking somehow… but…. someone read through it. It worked, but not well enough. Here we are, one year later. Two years later. Whatever it is. And you have….

Figured. It. Out.

You are going to build a suit that looks and feels so different, it is almost unrecognizable. You’ve tinkered with the joints. You’ve understood how to make the breathing apparatus more comfortable. You’ve realized that aerodynamics are a function of XXX and not YYY. You’ve changed just about everything.

The key is demonstrating not just THAT you’ve changed (of course people are going to look different a year from now—that’s just nature), but rather… how SIGNIFICANTLY you’ve changed. This is the thing to capture. What is it you’ve learned since last time? And why should we care? What have you done toward addressing that?

Okay okay… how do you actually DO IT???

Look back on the application you submitted the first time around. Look at the person THEY saw.

SEE IT THROUGH THEIR EYES.

If you’re doing this correctly, you should be nodding a knowing nod, saying “Hm. They made the absolute correct decision. Look at this kid. He didn’t have XX. He was weak in YY. He just didn’t have clarity in ZZ. Wow, they were WISE to have dinged the crap out this kid.” It may hurt to see yourself in this light, but this is crucial. This exercise will unlock the best possible version of your essay imaginable. Because now you have a frame of reference, against which you can compare “the new you.” The biggest mistake you can make is to say, well you fools didn’t see it a year ago, and this time I’m gonna yell a little louder and push harder to MAKE you see it.

No. They saw it just right. At least, that’s the way you need to approach it.

Acknowledge it even. Talk honestly about how, wow, one year ago I was confused about XX and it manifested itself THIS way. One year later, on account of this incredibly full and productive year or two, I now see it THIS way. Be earnest, admit to the fact that you have improved. But to do that, become comfortable with the idea that you weren’t quite there on that first application. Admit to yourself that that original suit was a great idea…. but a failure of execution. And you’re able to see that now, with some perspective. Build yourself a new suit by acknowledging what was wrong with the first one.

There is one required essay (maximum 500 words) for all Tepper MBA applicants (except college seniors):

The Tepper School community is committed to helping students reach their full potential. Explain your philosophy on helping others achieve their full potential. How have you implemented this philosophy in your professional life, and what impact has it had on those around you? How will this philosophy influence your approach to leadership at the Tepper School and beyond?

We like this question. Mostly because we resonate with the ‘helping people reach their full potential’ M.O. This question is a bit sneaky, and may trick some folks. But not others. In that sense, it’s a neat way to let the competition sort itself out.

If you’re not careful, you’ll steer this essay too heavily in the direction of ‘helping others’ and throw so much focus on how thoughtful you are about empowering others, and how great a person you are to not just be all about self-betterment but really want to help the other guy, man how great and selfless and wonderful a person you are, and you can’t help yourself when it comes to anything, you’re just so damn mindful about making sure others are fed first because—

Business school, folks.

Let’s come at this a different way. How big is your business appetite? How huge can you dream? Not necessarily in terms of $$$ but bigness of the idea, impact, game-changing, real, powerful advancement of… the world, society, the whole enchilada? Guess what. True disruption, true success stories of ‘business that are built to last,’ true agents of change even on an individual level, are almost always achieved - not solo - but through the clever empowerment of others around you, to help achieve efficiency, and… scale. This is what CMU is after. Do you get the concept of ‘big’? And do you get that in order to think ‘big’ you have already recognized that the ‘biggest’ version requires the leadership of others? This is the ballgame, folks. You need to demonstrate that you get that, and that the way you’ve understood that is from personal experience, that has fueled your appetite to really blow things up: hence, business school.

So, here’s how we’re gonna about it:

1. First, give us your understanding of what business success looks like. Don’t skimp here, and don’t rush. Really paint a picture, possibly in the abstract but more likely through a personal anecdote that demonstrates what success could have looked like, but what it ended up looking like, and how that cooler version was the result of a number of individuals who were operating at max potential, rowing in the same direction. (100-125 words)
2. Now explain your hand in all of it. Don’t be afraid to wade into a prior version of yourself that didn’t quite have this realization yet, in case you choose an example of how you came to learn it firsthand. Either way, take us through the way in which you understood the value of (as well the challenges of) empowering others to succeed. Now, it doesn’t necessarily need to be an example of how you helped others ultimately help you––it can, truly, be about how you’ve helped others for its own sake. But it should be evident that you understand the ‘business’ implications of that. (125-150 words)
3. Let’s go more general now, and talk about how, in general, you have applied this idea in other areas. One instance may be convenient, or a fluke. Several… becomes a pattern. We like patterns. We want to get the sense that this is now etched into your DNA as a leader. Show us a few examples here of where you’ve understood perhaps ‘an inconvenient’ truth about the effort required to helping others, perhaps even to some short-term cost to yourself. Show us why these were important moves, again, in a way that demonstrates your business sense, at the same time as it burnishes your ‘humanity’ credentials. (125-150 words)
4. Now, let’s get into how ‘helping others’ is not overly intellectual, just a part of how you go about doing your thing. Think about what you’re hoping to learn from others at Tepper in kind, and then flip it and talk about what value you might add in the direction of helping others. Remember to frame it in a way that almost makes it seem like it’s not so much a ‘moral’ or ‘humane’ choice, but rather, ‘what you do cuz why wouldn’t you’? Like, it’s so stupidly obvious because it’s in everyone’s best interests that it’s just the most flatly obvious way to be. The best version of a response here comes from someone who ‘gets’ it so readily that it doesn’t seem that conscious. (100-125 words)

University of Michigan Questions

1. Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (Required for all applicants; minimum 100 words/maximum 300 words

2. Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests? (Required for all applicants; minimum 100 words /maximum 550 words)

Before we dive into these questions, let’s look at UMich’s writing advice for these essays:

"As students consider how they will contribute to the University of Michigan campus community and respond to question and essay prompts, they may wish to highlight things that had an impact on them such as: their involvement in clubs, competing as a student-athlete, studying abroad, going on a mission trip, being engaged in debate, participating in the performing or visual arts, having alumni ties to the institution, making a difference in their community, serving in a leadership capacity, being an entrepreneur, and many others." 

So, what do we take away from this advice? Well at first glance at the prompts, which are about a community you belong to (and your place in it), and how the UMich program you’re applying to supports your interests, you could write one essay about a community you’re part of, and the other about UMich. 

And what they’re saying here is… don’t do that. Yes, of course, DO tell them about the community and how UMich serves your needs! But ultimately, you should ground each essay in THINGS YOU HAVE DONE. They want to learn about YOU, at the end of the day!

Now let’s look at each prompt individually:

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (Required for all applicants; minimum 100 words/maximum 300 words)

Cool, so for starters, make a list of all the ‘communities and/or groups’ that you belong to. The community and your story may span two or more of the commonalities listed above (e.g., both ethnicity and cuisine, or both geography and income, or both religion and intellectual heritage, etc.). List the key commonalities next to each community. Construe community in the way that serves your story the best.

Next, list your place in that community. Again, this is your canvas and you’re the painter. Make connections. Maybe you perform with a dance troupe as part of your cultural heritage. Or your experience on a mission trip with a religious group inspired you to start a nonprofit. It’s all good if you’re involved in X subcommunity/group within the broader Y community, or X led you to take Z action. 

Keep in mind, UMich has nearly 35,000 undergraduates and about 1600 student groups. There are infinite ways to get involved in the community there. Don’t make the essay about U of M, but do connect your backstory to a specific way or ways you want to engage in the student community there. 

Your best story will hopefully do all of the following: a) demonstrate a way that you’ll add to the diversity (broadly construed) of the U of Michigan community; b) highlight a way you took meaningful action or held a significant role within a community; and c) connect to a way you want to get involved in the Michigan community. Don’t shy away from highlighting your strengths and accomplishments – this is your moment to stand in the spotlight!

Onto the next prompt...

Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests? (Required for all applicants; minimum 100 words /maximum 550 words)

So, this is both a ‘Why Michigan, academically?’ and ‘why this particular program at Michigan?’ essay. 

Take a look at this overview of the school selection process while applying to Michigan as an undergraduate, from the school’s website:

"At Michigan, you don’t apply to the university overall or a specific major – you apply to one of our seven freshman admitting undergraduate schools and colleges: Architecture & Urban Planning; Art & Design; Engineering; Kinesiology; Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA); Music, Theater & Dance; and Nursing. The Ross School of Business is additionally considered a freshman enrolling unit, as they do make admission offers to incoming freshmen who have both applied and been admitted to either LSA; Engineering; Kinesiology (Sport Management); School of Music, Theater & Dance; or Stamps School of Art and Design."

So again, at first glance, the prompt seems to be asking one thing… tell us about why you want to go to Michigan – specifically THIS program at Michigan – and how it supports your interests. But reading between the lines – as well as UMich’s explicit advice – we’d strongly urge you to anchor this essay in specific things you’ve already done. 

So, let’s start with the school you’re applying to, and work back from there. Reflect on how you came to know you wanted to study field A? Make a list of your experiences that have contributed to this knowledge. Let’s look back at Michigan’s language on what you might include: “things that had an impact on them such as: their involvement in clubs, competing as a student-athlete, studying abroad, going on a mission trip, being engaged in debate, participating in the performing or visual arts, having alumni ties to the institution, making a difference in their community, serving in a leadership capacity, being an entrepreneur, and many others.”

You can even think about it as an equation. If you’re applying to the Kinesiology program, and you haven’t had specific Kinesiology experience, that’s A-OK! It can sometimes even make for a better story. Your equation might be:

[That season you were the starting QB on the football team then got injured and benched for the season but learned soooooo much about yourself and your body and what it means to be part of a team] + [your experience volunteering at a nursing home and feeling the fulfillment of helping others directly] = KINESIOLOGY ALL THE WAY!

That piece will be about 70% of your essay… the final key piece is, why the [Kinesiology] department AT MICHIGAN is better than departments at other schools. Its deep connection to their top sports teams? The faculty’s research? The community? Dig in, get to know the program, and connect specifics of UMich’s program to specifics of your experience. You don’t need to overdo the connection, but you do want the reader to feel like there’s an easy-to-follow thread about how you got from point A (not knowing what you wanted to do, or thinking you wanted to do something else, or whatever your starting point was) to point B (knowing what you wanted to do AND WHERE – namely, Michigan). 

If you’re applying to two programs simultaneously – continuing with our example, let’s say you’re applying to Kinesiology AND the Ross Business School – make sure you explain WHY you need the business education to do what you want to do in your career. Don’t assume that more is better, when it comes to majors—make a clear case for why EACH program is a necessary piece of your whole course of study. 

One more thing: the word count range is 100-500 words, which is a BIG spread. While there are surely exceptions to this generalization, 100 words is probably too short to include your interest, your experience, and why Michigan. 

That said, the 500 word limit isn’t an invitation to get verbose. Keep it pithy. Edit with the rigor you’d bring to a 250-300 word essay. If your essay is longer than 300 words, make there’s enough content to merit the longer essay. If you’ve visited the department, spoken with current students or alums, etc., and can share meaningful takeaways from those experiences, definitely include them!

How has your life experience contributed to your personal story—your character, values, perspectives, or skills—and what you want to pursue at Hopkins? (350-word limit)

The Hopkins Admissions page shares a solid approach to writing this essay, the core of which we’re sharing below in italics. What can be better than advice straight from the horse’s mouth, right? You can find the full post here. Under Hopkins’s advice is our build on how to think about which personal experience(s) will yield the best essays. 

Picture your life in college. What does your community look like? Which aspects of your identity are most important for you to develop and nurture?  

Now jot down some thoughts about experiences or parts of your identity that have had a significant effect on your life. Maybe it’s a hobby you love, a cultural tradition, or an instance when you discovered something new about yourself. 

Once you have a list, think about how each of these will continue to play a role in your college life. Choose one to focus on and spend some time building it out. 

Keep in mind this essay is not an exercise in “tell us everything you know about Hopkins.” While it’s important for the admissions committee to see you’ve done your research and understand what Hopkins has to offer, simply listing what you hope to pursue on campus is only half of the puzzle. Be sure to connect the dots by explaining why you wish to pursue those things, and how they’ll help you remain connected to and grow in your identity. 

Admissionado’s build: this is great advice, which we highly recommend following! The initial writing exercise to generate the list is a perfect place to start. As you review that list, DO think about how each item will continue to play a role in your life, as Johns Hopkins suggests. We ALSO recommend thinking about your personal transformation associated with each list item, and any direct action you took in connection. 

You’re the hero and this is your journey… and every hero’s journey involves transformation and action. Even if you’re talking about, say, a cultural identity you’ve had your entire life… think about this: have you ever had a realization about what it means to have this cultural identity, or a cultural identity that diverges from most people around you? How has that shaped how you think about the world? About community? About your role in the world or community? And then, what ACTIONS did this realization spur you to take?

Now, take this set of reflections and turn your gaze forward to your life at college / Hopkins and beyond. How does this particular lived experience inform how you would navigate college life at Hopkins? Going back to the Johns Hopkins adcom’s advice, don’t just list a bunch of things that Hopkins offers. For each list item that’s still looking promising, try to connect it to something (or some things) Hopkins offers UNIQUELY – either it’s something you can only find at Hopkins, or Hopkins’s brand of it is uniquely suited to you in XYZ way(s). And keep in mind this piece of advice from Hopkins:

Be sure to connect the dots by explaining why you wish to pursue those things, and how they’ll help you remain connected to and grow in your identity. 

You want your story to have a through-line: something unique about your lived experience, how it’s shaped your perspective, actions and/or motivations, how Hopkins’s resources will uniquely meet your needs for learning and community, and where this specific journey is pointing you, going forward. If you’ve got that – and your past and future hang together enough for the reader to say, ‘yep that makes sense, I’m tracking the logic here’, you should be well on your way to a first draft!

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

This is a typical re-applicant essay – a nice, specific question about updates on short-term and long-term career goals. It’s important to keep in mind when addressing this piece that it’s not just about the matter-of-fact update itself… we also need to assess the IMPROVEMENT you’ve pulled off.

In other words, one year later, your career plan has to become sharper or more plausible, or more exciting in some way. We need to understand HOW. And WHY. That’s the key: a crystal clear explanation of how your candidacy has improved and what it means given your (new and improved) reasons for getting an MBA.

Check out our tips for re-applicant essays here.

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

CBS has been asking this one for a long time. It’s mostly a standard goals essay, with a few subtle tweaks.

First of all, they’ve made a point to steer you away from rehashing your résumé here. “Because we can read, and have your résumé and recommendations in front of us… We have a clear sense of your professional path to date. So please don’t waste our time by repeating that stuff here, because you’ll be revealing just how much you don’t get that simple concept…” That’s kind of what the folks at Columbia Business School are really saying there. Now, there IS a reason to slip in some of your achievements, but only to the extent that doing so further CLARIFIES your goals and/or CONVINCES the reader that you have a shot at succeeding AT achieving those goals (we’ll come back to that).

Okay, so how to crush Essay #1 for CBS? Well, this may require some re-wiring of your brain, so strap in.

You want to the readers to be utterly impressed, okay, we’ll grant you that. But HOW you go about impressing them is where it gets tricky. Your instinct might be to impress through pitching the coolest-SOUNDING job/plan. In other words, you may want to tantalize these folks with a killer tech idea; or something revolutionary; or something so creative and unique, it stops them in their tracks. Nope. Don’t try to impress through the plan. Instead, impress through the INEVITABILITY OF that plan. If your background (and therefore your skill set, prior achievements, general career arc, etc.) maps perfectly to the plan you’ve laid out for the next 3-5 years, you’re going to be thought of as “bankable.”

Think about it… business schools don’t just allow for your career goals to shift, they fully expect them to. That’s often the whole point of business school: to prime “future successes” to be as mighty as possible. What they want are SURE THINGS.

This should be a game-changer as you approach your essays. You’re no longer selling “the buyer” on the quality of the plan itself, but rather, on your ability to pull that plan off, because your background and your skill set, and your interests, and your future aspirations, and your dedication to success are all in perfect alignment.

To put a fine point on it, the reader of the perfect CBS Essay #1 won’t say, “Wow, what an impressive 3-5 year plan. I hope this kid succeeds!” The perfect essay elicits THIS response: “Wow, this kid is gonna pull that plan off. Or any other plan they commit to. Let’s go get them before someone else does.” See the difference?

Now as far as the long-term dream job is concerned, don’t just talk about what that job is. Attack it from the angle of what changes (in the world, in others, etc.) as a result of your succeeding IN that dream job. Let’s say your dream job is to be the future CEO of a brand new game-changing telecom company. Don’t just tell us what that company does, and what you imagine your role to be as CEO of that disrupting change agent. Pitch us the DISRUPTION. Sell us on “the thing you dream will happen WHEN YOU’RE SUCCEEDING.” If we buy into THAT, then we’re gonna want to help you get to that long-term dream job…

As far as balance/structure goes, this will get you out of trouble for a decent first draft (as always, remember that no two applicant essays need look alike–this is just a general suggestion if you’re stumbling out of the cages):

• Sell us quickly on either a TEASER version of your long-term vision, or the OPPORTUNITY you’re hoping to pop, or a PROBLEM that needs fixing. (50-75 words)
• Now, quickly catch us up to speed on what you’re up to now, and how you’re hoping to push things forward in the next 3-5 years. (Important to forget business school, for a second – pretend an MBA didn’t exist for the purposes of this particular paragraph; just give us the 3-5 year plan.) But, don’t just give us the step-by-step plan. Convince us that your skill set will allow you to transition from wherever you are right now to step 1 of that plan, and then to step 2, and then step 3, etc. This is the crux of it. Remember, it’s not the plan. It’s the inevitability of your SUCCEEDING at it, that counts. (2 paragraphs, 150 words apiece)
• Finally, expand the canvas to include your long term dream job, selling us on “the result of your succeeding AT your dream job.” Sell us on your passion for this thing. Sell on your confidence for why you’ll succeed. (100 words or so)
• Somewhere along the way, wherever it makes sense, it won’t hurt to layer in the area or areas where you need some fortification (from, say, a top-notch business school), in order to really achieve your goals, fully. (2 sentences, max)

More important than nailing the structure on a first draft, is getting the foundation correct. So focus on making a convincing argument that:

1. You have assessed your strengths and weaknesses with considerable thought and insight, and
2. You have thought through your goals very carefully and have a clear sense of risk, what’s realistic/not realistic, have a back-up plan if things don’t work out exactly as you’d like, etc.

As long as you nail those two things, the rest (the rewriting process where it all starts to tighten up and get sexy) will fall into place easily.

*Updated Sep 2024*

Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words)

Clap clap, Kellogg. This is a great question, not that you’re interested in our approval, but still, it’s kind of like our version of the Paul Hollywood handshake.

The real trick to this one is seeing just how much you ‘get’ the concept of what makes a difficult decision… truly difficult. It’s tempting to conflate a situation or task that’s challenging, and onerous, and not simple, and not easy to navigate, versus a ‘decision’ that is difficult. Kellogg is all over this one, and we know this because of what they ask in the second half––allow us to restate it in a way that reveals the ‘code’ underneath it all:

What decision required you to push past your normal problem-solving faculties, and recruit an assist from something more profound and values-based in order to navigate? In other words, what decision required something other than logic and black belt problem-solving skills to handle? It’s more complex than it may seem at first blush. You need to be able to differentiate between decisions that don’t require an ‘escalation’ to the top, top dog (‘values’ center), and those that do. 

Here’s one potentially useful exercise:

Can you imagine a time when, faced with a decision, there were several potential solutions that an outsider might rate as ‘correct’ and/or would successfully ‘solve the problem’ and yet… felt either wrong or incomplete on some other level? That’s a great way to tease it out. “In order to save this project, meet vendor expectations, fulfill the ‘job requirement,’ and be in perfect alignment with my company’s values and general M.O., one obvious solution is X. And in the hands of someone else, Solution X might be a no-brainer. However, it doesn’t sit right with me, because it misses ABC, or it isn’t morally sound, or it might seem to succeed seen in one light, but risks denaturing something much more profound in another…” That’s just a glimpse of how that line of thinking might go. 

Let’s build on that and add another dimension: Imagine a decision you’ve been faced with that 9 out of 10 others (in your shoes) would have handled ONE way. And that way makes absolute, logical sense to you. (This is key. The best example of a ‘tough’ decision here is one where the expected solution makes perfect, logical business sense.) However, you handled it differently, because something else kicked in (your values) which steered you in a slightly different direction.

That’s what Kellogg means here when they’re asking about a ‘difficult’ decision. And that’s one ‘stress test’ to see if your potential examples qualify. Does your example, in the hands of several other leaders, lead to a sensible but different solution? One that you agree has logical merits? But that you chose to handle some other way because of a value?

Now that you’ve identified the *correct* decision type to truly satisfy this question, now you need to be able to tap into the way in which some value of yours factored into your ultimate handling of the issue. Take us through the inner dialogue. Sell us on the merits of the expected solution that another person might have embraced. Truly sell it. Show us why this might have made perfect sense in someone else’s hands. But then explain why that solution/approach wasn’t complete, or giving you pause, or creating some kind of inner conflict in you. Explain the issue and why you needed to source something other than pure logic in order to find a more complete, fuller, and ultimately better solution. Explain what happened, and then show us why your approach was the correct approach (regardless of the outcome, even though presumably it was a success in others’ eyes).

Structure:

1. Bring us into the ‘difficult decision’ by first setting the stage. Explain the situation, convey the stakes, explain the challenge, and finally articulate what an expected, sound solution (in someone else’s hands) MIGHT have looked at, and sell us on the merits. (75-100 words)
2. Now, explain why this alternative approach was lacking. What did it miss? Why was it incomplete or insufficient? What made the decision so much more complex than how it might have appeared on paper? Reveal the inner workings of your business mind here. Show us that you can get inside problems and analyze the hell out of them, and see all the angles. (100-125 words)
3. Now explain what the correct solution *needed* to incorporate, and how this tapped into your values. Take us through your thinking, the weighing of pros and cons, the calculations, the risk/reward, the fear, the irrational aspects (if any). And sell us on why this dimension was critical for you in arriving at a sound decision. (100-125 words)
4. Finally, explained what happened, and prove that your approach (regardless of the outcome) was the ‘correct’ (‘better’) way for you to have approached it, and what that reveals to you about your leadership style. Where else can we see evidence of this? What implications does this have about the type of leader you’re hoping to develop further? (75-100 words) 

That gets you a solid first draft.

*Updated Sep 2024*

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

Response Guidelines:

• Length: There is no maximum length, only a 250-word minimum. We trust that you will use your best judgment in determining how long your submission should be, but we recommend that you think strategically about how to best allocate the space.
• Acceptable Formats: Submissions must be entered into the text box provided in the application.

Check out our suggested offline exercise for this Wharton question. Essentially, the idea is to plan out your next five years of growth WITH and WITHOUT the Booth MBA, and then examine the delta between the two paths. This will be useful here as well. In fact, regardless of your interest in Wharton or Booth, you should go through the process of imagining this exact same timeline for MULTIPLE schools, with the intention of “ending up slightly different” five years from now in EVERY VERSION because the experience(s) at each particular school will alter your trajectory, somewhat.

250-word MINIMUM is also an interesting signal. Generally, when no strict word limit is given, we recommend landing somewhere around 500-600 words. Why? Cuz that’s the amount of space most “M7 MBAs” need to make their case.

Try this format, and what you SHOULD end up with is a QUALITY first draft that’s well on its way to being dissected and remolded into Rodin-esque mastery:

1. Sell us on the OPPORTUNITY or PROBLEM you wanna solve. What is it you’re trying to achieve? Why? What will the impact be? Why should anyone care? Convince us this is a cool idea or problem to fix, and convince us that your vision is sensible and achievable. [75-100 words]
2. Great idea, but what business do YOU have attacking it? Convince us. Walk us through a few KEY highlights of your past that put your credibility here on full display. Focus on only the stuff that allows us to say “Yah, this is the kind of person and these are the kinds of skills that translate PERFECTLY to solving the problem you’ve identified.” At the end of this section, explain what things you are MISSING that prevent you from attacking these goals today. There have to be SOME, otherwise, why bother wasting two years? Describe the stuff you need IN GENERAL, as if from “any MBA.” [125-150 words]
3. Now, map specific things at Booth to those deficits in your skill set. Don’t point out things that exist at Booth that are theoretically valuable. Create “proofs” for how those “things” AFFECT you in a way that results in “skill set boostage” … aka, “improved ability to achieve goals.” Show us how specific aspects of Booth will TRANSFORM you from “guy who can’t quite achieve ST and LT goals” into “guy who can.” Until you make that “chemical reaction” clear, you haven’t quite nailed this section yet. And this is hard, so there’s a 97% chance you’ll get close on your first draft but won’t quite nail it. Don’t be discouraged. It’ll get there! [100-125 words]
4. Finally, lay out the BLUEPRINT of specific things you plan on doing in the short term toward your long-term goals, once you’re equipped with that Booth MBA. Prove to us that you’re likely to achieve all those steps, and make sure the logic and sequence of it is all plain as day. We need to prove that your short-term goals are the BEST POSSIBLE stepping stones between the MBA and your long-term ambitions. Then segue seamlessly into a more far-off look at the horizon: Where it’s all headed longer-term, and what it all means, why this is meaningful to you, why these ambitions are not a flame that’s gonna burn out anytime soon. [125-150 words]

Depending on your individual case, [3] and [4] can sometimes flip.

*Updated Sep 2024*

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 career, we’d like to learn more about you outside of the office. Use this opportunity to tell us something about who you are… (Minimum 250 words, no maximum.) 

This is a classic MBA application question, one you’ll probably see on other applications as well. Start by thinking about what makes your extraprofessional life exciting and interesting. What do you do that most people around you don’t? What extraprofessional activity do you do better than most of your peers in your company, industry, or country? Make a list of those exceptional activities.

Note the emphasis on things you DO. Statements of fact “I am Indian-American” or opinion “I like to watch golf” are not what the adcom is looking for here. The strongest versions of this essay will show the adcom “who you are” by portraying your actions, rather than just listing a series of traits that you have.

To illustrate the power of this approach, imagine the adcom asked a friend of yours this same question. The friend could reply “He’s an avid hiker and skilled outdoorsman.” Or they could say “Oh, her? Let me tell you about her. There was this one time when we were stranded in the Rocky Mountains, and she jury-rigged a sled from branches, and saved all of our lives…” That second version is MUCH more compelling evidence of the applicant’s wilderness survival ability, because it provides evidence in the form of an example.

In this spirit, take your list of exceptional activities from earlier, and identify one or two specific examples or achievements for each activity. So “I play chess” becomes “I won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018… while wearing a blindfold.” Then think about what each achievement says about you and how that relates to your MBA admissions argument.

Your post-MBA goals matter here! Say you’re getting a Booth MBA in order to create a tech startup. What skills or personality traits will you need to be successful? Persistence? Curiosity? We’ll want to emphasize those particular traits in our essay, even though we’re not talking directly about your current or future work. Pick the 2-3 extraprofessional achievements from your list that you feel most exemplify the traits needed in your target industry.

Once you’ve identified the stories you want to tell, it’s just a matter of putting it all together. This could be done a number of different ways. For example, the entire essay could be built around one trait (“determination”, “resourcefulness”, etc.), with each story showing a different time you relied on that trait. Alternatively, you could tell the story chronologically, showing how each interest led to the next, and an ever-greater amount of extraprofessional achievement. The strongest versions of this essay often do both of these things at the same time, creating a narrative where the candidate’s extraprofessional achievements build on one another and leave the adcom facing the unavoidable conclusion that this candidate has the “right stuff” for whatever career path they have chosen.

We’ve read your essays, we’ve read your resume — now we want you to bring all that to life in a video. Show us the person behind all those carefully crafted words.

The video will be comprised of three questions, each designed to help you showcase your personality and share some of the experiences that brought you here today.

Some things to keep in mind as you prepare to complete this section:

• Video essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline.
• A video essay link will appear on your Application Status Page after you submit your application and payment.
• You will need an internet-connected computer with a webcam and microphone.
• The video should take about 20-25 minutes to complete, which includes time for setup.
• After submitting your application and payment, you will be able to access the video essay through your Application Status Page.

Here are some additional tips:

There are practice questions that you may complete as many times as you like to get comfortable with the format and technology. The practice questions and experience will simulate the actual video essay experience to help you prepare.

We encourage you to practice so you are comfortable with the format once it is time to complete the official questions. You will not have an opportunity to re-do the answer to the official video essay questions.

You will have 20 seconds to think about the question and up to one minute to give your response

The key to preparing for this type of ‘unknown’ prompt is to get to a place where the prompt won’t matter, because you’ve developed the muscle memory to:

1. Understand fundamentally what they’re really hoping to learn, underneath it all, and
2. Tap into your profile, because you’ve engaged with the key pieces of your overall profile and ‘application argument’ such that you know how every facet connects, thus enabling you to quickly source the correct story and angle, to deliver the perfect response efficiently and convincingly.

Simple as that! Sarcasm, yay!

We have a post about this over here.

First things first: what kinds of questions might you get? Well, and we can’t emphasize this enough, the wrong way to go about this is to fixate on specific questions, anticipate what they might be, prepare, and then hope for the best. The risk there is that they might throw you a curveball. And if they sling something your way you haven’t ‘scripted’ in your mind yet, you’re toast. Instead, here are sample questions that have been asked, but just… graze this list with your eyes, as if glancing at the sun during an eclipse, yknow, don’t stare too long. Get a feel:

• Tell us something more about you that we can’t find on your resume.
• Talk about a time that you failed to achieve a goal, what happened, and how did you respond?
• Tell us about someone in your life who has helped you achieve your goals. What did they do and why were they supportive?
• Tell us about a time you made a positive impact in your community, neighborhood, etc.
• Tell us about a time you created professional value by bringing something that was not on the table.
• How did you pivot from an unforeseen ask, last-minute demand, or unexpected situation?
• How did you leverage a connection or relationship to facilitate a goal?
• ⁠Variation: Tell us about a relationship you leveraged to accomplish a goal.
• How long have you considered an MBA? What have you learned about yourself and your goals?
• Tell me about a time when you realized you needed to ask for help to achieve a goal. How did you realize you couldn't do it alone and what did you learn?
• Tell us about a time you improved a process.
• Tell us about a time when you failed, what happened and how did you go about it?

These look familiar? That’s cuz ‘they’re the exact questions you can expect to see on most business school applications or in any standard business school interview.’ And they all hover around the same general core themes:

• Work History
• Fit / Contribution to the School
• Maturity / Emotional Control / Self-Confidence
• Achievement / Goal-Orientation / Behavioral
• Interpersonal Skills
• Why MBA / Why Our School?

(But do yourself a favor and check out this the Video Prompt #2 article because we go into way more detail around what each of these themes truly means to the Adcoms.)

To get to the point where you’re very comfortable answering *any* question thrown your way, you need to develop a root-level understanding of (1) what your most salient profile components are (as it impacts your application argument to business school), and (2) how they interrelate. But then there’s the other consideration which is… what is Kellogg ultimately looking for?

They, like every other elite MBA program, wants to know, who among their over-qualified pool of candidates is:

• Most likely to succeed
• In the biggest and best ways that align with the ‘brand’ interests of Kellogg, and also 
• Who, when introduced to other classmates whom they’ve selected, are likely to add fuel to their fire (and benefit from the same)

Every single answer you issue, must in some way advance Kellogg’s sense of all three of those things. Sometimes it will be based on ‘facts’ you convey. Other times it will be found in the way you approached or thought about something. Other times it will be simply conveyed through your poise, body language, and the confidence you exude through clear thinking, and articulate, coherent responses.

There’s a lot more to say here, but the starting point is:

• Figure out what your application argument is first: Get acquainted with your best stories (your ‘greatest hits’) that touch on all the key issues: leadership examples, overcoming challenges, working with teammates, thinking outside the box, seeking help from others, being intellectually curious and humble, times when you failed and learned something important, times when you succeeded and learned something important, thinking through your goals and why your pursuit of those goals should be of interest to someone else…. the usual suspects.
• Find a repository of likely MBA interview questions (we have some, just ask), and practice the living hell out of answering. But a neat trick is to take the same question, and give yourself different time limits. Start with 3 minutes. Then do it again, but limit it to 1min. Then do it again and try 15 seconds. Notice what happens with each variation, what does the time allotment train you to do in terms of emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain aspects? At the end of that process, you’ll find that you’ve figured out precisely what the most efficient way is to get from Point A to Point B. Rinse and repeat a thousand times with other question types.
• Eventually, something will ‘turn’ and you’ll start to sense a kind of ‘auto-pilot’ muscle kick in, and your ability to (1) locate the right story and (2) home in instantly on the right story points, and then (3) find the right words to efficiently convey those story points will happen… unconsciously. *That* is when you know you’re ready for prime time.

Additional Information (Optional Essay)

Is there any unclear information in your application that needs further explanation? (300 word maximum)

Read our team’s complete take on the idea of the optional essay, including a brief (recent) history of b-schools’ relationship with it, and how our recommendations have evolved over the years, right here.

Read more and explore each step of the Chicago Booth MBA application process here.

We know this is an important component of your decision to attend business school. We take it seriously as well. 

Please describe your post-MBA career goals.

It would be helpful to consider the following information in your response:

• You have up to 2 minutes to respond to this question.
• Please be as specific as possible. If you have not yet identified specific companies, that is okay. Just tell us what interests you for your next role or company. What about the industry, company, or functional role is appealing to you?
• If you have any criteria you are using to evaluate career opportunities, please share those as well. We may have great opportunities to add to your list.
• How does this post-MBA career goal relate to your long-term career plan?

First we’ll unpack the themes and ideas of the content, then we’ll talk a little about the nuances of presenting this via video rather than written essay. Let’s dig.

Themes & Content

The key to this whole thing is ‘wow that makes so much sense.’ Lots to unpack here, so here goes:

• To have clarity around your goals, increases (by orders of magnitude) the likelihood that you will succeed at those goals… or any OTHER goals you set your mind to (the ‘any’ is key)
• To be able to express these articulately validates it, it is not easy. Those who can speak with clarity are more likely to be focused.
• To understand the precise ways in which each component of your past and future and every stage in between connect, and build on each other, further validates the question of whether you understand what’s necessary to succeed, and almost serves as a ‘guarantee’ that you are likely TO succeed. It’s a signal that you ‘get it’ and the folks who ‘get it’ eventually… get it. Business schools are trying to gamble on the sure things.

That’s the ballgame. It isn’t the case that your ideas themselves are going to impress. Adcoms are too smart for that. They recognize that ideas are not in short supply. Executors OF … any ideas… are. Doers. Follow-through-ers. Folks with the clarity and discipline to persevere when you’re past the honeymoon idea phase and shit gets real. The people who understand what the road ahead entails, and demonstrate a sobriety and tactical mindset are the ones who will impress adcoms. That’s what they’re looking for when they ask about your goals. They don’t care about the actual goals. They want to see the signals of someone who has the traits of an executor.

A 2-minute video roughly translates to maybe 250 words or so in writing, so let’s use that as a frame. Here’s how an ‘essay’ version might have read (with an eventual video presentation in mind):

1. What’s your overall goal, the super end-end game? Think about it this way, don’t just give us the Title or Role, which tells us nothing. Think about the impact it will have once you achieve that position/goal. What has happened as a result of it, whose lives have been changed, what thing has been disrupted, what situation has improved, what is… the practical impact of it all. Do this very quickly to paint a picture of what motivates you … and every step you’re going to now take in order to move toward it. (50 words)
2. What are the skills required to pull that off? By framing it this way, you can now take us through the chronological road map of how you’ll navigate each step and extract something very specific which launches you to the next step that builds on it, and then the next step, and so on. So begin with where you are now and why you need an MBA before you attack the step immediately following your MBA. (50-75 words)
3. Next, take us through your vision for the very next move following CMU, ‘now’ loaded with this newfound MBA experience and improved skill set and network. (75 words)
4. Finally, talk broadly about how you arrived at your plan, and address the criteria you used to evaluate career opportunities. On what basis did you choose LT Vision X, given your passions and skills? Can you frame this in a way that your motivating force is a root-level concept, and therefore not just limited to your idea for how to achieve that? CMU wants to know that they may be able to add value to your current sense of your future––after all, this is the whole point of business school to open up possibilities. This is a key part to nail. (50-75 words)

Just a few more words on this last part. You need to find the right balance of being not too broad and also not too narrow. For example: “I’m looking at career opportunities that will afford me a leadership position, such that I can lead people to achieve!” Cool. You’ve just said absolutely nothing of any substance, it includes, all the things. On the other end, you might say “I would like to become CEO of a tech company in Cupertino, California, whose name is that of a common fruit.” Implying that anything other than the CEO of Apple is of no interest. Too specific. 

These are exaggerated almost to the point of being unhelpful, but it’s important to see the posts at both ends to understand why it’s important to find the perfect balance. Rather than say “I must be a CEO of a company in the tech space…” for example, you’re better off grappling with the end-result/impact OF that particular path. What’s the thing that results? “I want to find an opportunity that leads to the betterment of… X.” “I want to be in a position where I’m able to inspire teams to… Y.” This can lead you down a great path, that can be specific with respect to ‘impact’ and ‘outcome’ but open with respect to the ‘path’ which could be any number of things. You have a sense for what ‘the’ path is today, but what if CMU blows your mind and opens the door to newer opportunities you hadn’t even realized existed? Again, this is the point of business school. So, learn to traffic in ‘outcome’-speak, less ‘path’-speak.

You can still have a clear sense of the precise steps you’re going to take, don’t confuse that with our earlier point. The point we want to emphasize is that it should all be couched in a frame that’s focused on the outcome, not the path itself.

Video Presentation

Ever seen a *great* speech at a wedding, or the like? 9 out of 10 times, the speaker was ‘off book’ and not reading from a script. A perfectly-scripted response can be great. But what you lose is the connection with the audience, which is best achieved by speaking TO them, and not studying your notes. For a 2-minute video, this is an absolute must NOT to read from a script, but to be well acquainted with the contours of your ideas, that you can mentally jump from one bullet to the next, and say what you need to say succinctly, but differently each time you do it so that it feels fresh and unrehearsed, but still taut and efficient.

In order to achieve that level, you will likely need to practice like crazy. Here’s one way to do it when you have the benefit of ‘knowing what the question is ahead of time’ as you do here:

1. Before you write anything, pull out your phone or laptop, get yourself on screen through whatever app you like that has a record function, and hit Record, and answer the prompt: ”Please describe your post-MBA career goals.” Do this raw, without having written anything down. Don’t fuss about time, take as much time as you need to get your points across. You may get through it all in one minute. Or you might hit ‘stop’ and see that 10 minutes have elapsed. Doesn’t matter. Record this first draft and then rewatch it in abject horror, haha. It’s going to suck, and that’s not only okay, it’s going to be liquid gold for what comes next.
2. Now that you’ve gotten a garbage attempt out, and watched the horror show, you will have divined insights about where you were clunky, where the transitions were choppy, where your ideas don’t even sound that clear or coherent, but also, where you seemed to hit a solid note or two, and so on. Now, take your time and write out in essay form a more considered response. Make this sucker flow. Make it tight. Edit it, get it to a great place, but try not to get too stuck on precise wording. Instead you want to focus on thematic punches. What’s the meat of what you’re trying to get across, for the tightest and highest impact 250 word essay?
3. Now, without keeping this written version in front of you (this is key, put that thing away, out of sight), record yourself again. You’ll notice two things have happened. You’ll be a LOT closer to the 2-min mark (having aimed at a 250-word piece), and your flow (especially if you’ve followed our guidance) will be a thousand times more coherent and compelling.
4. Refine again, having reacted to where it’s strong, where it isn’t, etc. And write it out, get it to a great place. But this time, before you record again, condense your 250-word essay to … five (or so) bullets that are simply headlines that capture themes, to remind you of the key transitions. This would be the equivalent of using index cards (and btw, that’s a great way to do it, get some index cards, and write out one concept on each card, of all of em on one card, either way). Try recording again using only these BULLETS and see how well you can do to tell your entire story as coherently as possible. Review, and try it again, perhaps making a few adjustments to your index cards wording (maybe adding a key transition, changing the wording somewhat), and have another go. See how you do. Do it again. And again. And each time you do it, try to tell it a little differently each time so that the muscle memory builds around the concepts, not the words.
5. This may feel silly at some point. But important stuff is happening on a level you’re not even aware of. At some point, possibly five recordings (or twenty) later, you’ll feel a click. Something will have shifted and you’ll … know your story inside-out. To the point where you might not even need the cards, you can hear the transitions because they’re so intuitive. If you’ve framed it correctly, the logical underpinnings should be so sound that written transition cues aren’t necessary because they’re baked into the ‘story’ itself. When this happens, you’re in a great place and you should take a break. Give it a day or two and then come back to it, stay somewhat fresh, but do not over-rehearse. If you do, you’ll start to get married to phrases and it’ll sound canned. This is the part that will sound controversial but a story that’s 90% perfect in wording but 100% sound in logic and FEELS UNREHEARSED will outperform a story that’s 100% ‘perfect’ and 100% sound in logic but DOES FEEL REHEARSED. A little bit raw (with a sound logical foundation) beats an overly rehearsed performance any day of the week. This is a skill you’re going to develop in business school no matter what so, start training now!

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

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

One thing to be cautious of: don’t get so focused on these five ‘skills’ such that you end up picking the wrong story to tell. A better approach is to identify your best stories, the ones where the features that make those stories great reveal something potent and differentiated about you, and pack the greatest punch with respect to indicating your likelihood of future success. Then, seeing how closely those features map to one of the five ‘skills’ indicated by CBS, and going from there. You can go too far here, also, and pick a great story that works well with a different question but doesn’t at all connect with any of those five, only to come across like a politician with your pre-packaged sound byte that you were gonna sound off on, regardless of the question posed. That’ll just make you look unserious at best, insulting at worst.

So let’s assume you’ve organized your *best* stories, ranking them from most to least potent with respect to ‘application argument’ punch. Now let’s review the CBS list, and then go into each one-by-one:

• Mitigating Bias and Prejudice
• Managing Intercultural Dialogue
• Addressing Systemic Inequity
• Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking
• and Creating an Inclusive Environment

If you have to work hard to forge a connection between the most salient points of your story with any of these five, it is likely not the right story to choose. Move to the next one on your list and try again. And so on, until at some point, you encountered a situation that recruited decision-making and value-based judgments that intersects with one of the themes indicated. Now you’re ready to rock.

In order to deliver a solid response here, you need to truly ‘get’ what Columbia is going for here (and why) and harsh as this may sound, you either kinda get it already or you don’t. And if you don’t, any effort you make at attempting to play the role of someone who ‘does’ get it will fail. CBS is trying to be appealing to a new type of MBA applicant that, perhaps in contrast to a ‘typical applicant’ from a prior generation, has grown up in a world surrounded by people who are deeply committed to the ideals underlying these issues. On the one hand, all of this *should* seem so stupidly obvious so as not to warrant this much of a spotlight: is anyone truly pro-prejudice? Or loves a good bias? Doesn’t see the need (or challenges of, or value of) intercultural dialogue? And so on… presumably, anyone who wasn’t born in 1823 should look at these and go “duh.” And yet, CBS is signaling something by putting these issues front and center. They understand that today’s applicant may be specifically seeking out a program that is doing exactly that: throwing a spotlight onto these issues, as a way of differentiating themselves from nearby competitors, for better or worse. This is as much ‘signaling’ from Columbia as it is a ‘screening’ question to the applicant pool. As such, it behooves you to consider that as a motivation, in order for you to ‘meet the brief’ and validate their decision to put this front and center. You do that by formulating a response that has the subtext of ‘I’m so glad you asked this question, and it thrills me so much to answer it, because now I feel that much more connected to you, values-wise. Why can’t other schools be more like you?!” (That may be part of their motivation.)

So, with that in mind, can you locate a moment in your recent past (probably work-related, but not necessarily) where inclusivity, bias, prejudice, intercultural communication, systemic inequality, differences in perspective, etc. were front-and-center? Or if not front-and-center, meaningfully involved?

Here’s how to tackle:

1. Bring us into the situation. What was the problem, or challenge, or task, for which one of these five elements was involved? At what point did you realize *that* aspect? How might someone have read the situation who was not mindful of these issues? Contrast that with *your* reading, given that you *were* mindful. Make the ‘issue’ clear, such that we can picture it. (75 words)
2. Now explain what you did, and what the results were. For now, be matter of fact and give it to us straight, just what you did, and what happened. (75 words)
3. Now, get into the real meat of it. Explain why did you did what you did. What were your options? What might someone else have done, and on what basis, or with what blindspots? What did your decision tree look like? What was going on in your head as you were grappling with the complexities of navigating the issue? Something must have made it challenging, otherwise it’s the wrong story. Lay out what made it hard, and why you did what you did, and why that matters to you. What are the bigger picture implications of it? Be careful not to get too preachy. Remember this is a business school. The best answers aren’t socially just at the expense of business wins. Rather, they are socially just in a way that enhances the business win. Find *that* angle, and slay it. (100-125 words)

That approach will get you to a decent starting point/first draft.

Re-applicants will receive a prompt about their growth since their last application: How have you grown or changed personally and professionally since you previously applied and what steps have you taken to become the strongest candidate you can be? (250 words)

This is a typical re-applicant essay – a nice, specific question about updates on short-term and long-term career goals. It’s important to keep in mind when addressing this piece that it’s not just about the matter-of-fact update itself… we also need to assess the IMPROVEMENT you’ve pulled off.

In other words, one year later, your career plan has to become sharper or more plausible, or more exciting in some way. We need to understand HOW. And WHY. That’s the key: a crystal clear explanation of how your candidacy has improved and what it means given your (new and improved) reasons for getting an MBA. Take a deeper dive into our analysis below:

The Re-applicant Essay

Short answer question (150 words): What are your post-undergraduate career plans? What company are you joining? What will be your role?

150 words isn’t a lot, which is nice. A good excuse to be straightforward and to the point. But with your future-business-school cap on, you want to frame this as ‘things you’re planning to do… with business school in mind as an inevitable and important component of your overall plan.’ So let’s start there. What is your long-term goal (such as you’re aware of it today), such that an MBA is a necessary stepping stone? What is it you’re hoping to do eventually? What’s the role, function? If you achieve all of it, what will the impact of your efforts be? Okay, now that you have a sense of that, work backwards.

Why is it that in order to achieve that, you’ll need an MBA specifically? What would it have looked like without an MBA? And now, replay it, and how does an MBA turbocharge that effort? Be specific. Great. Keep working backwards. In order to get into an MBA program, what kind of experience must you first get? Why? What are your skills today, and what skills will you need to develop in order to be productive at an MBA program? In other words, you might try your hand at an MBA program ‘today.’ But an interesting alternative would be to gain from real-life experience doing … something… such that an MBA experience after that would make it 100x more productive. How does that argument go? Now you’re ready to tackle this question.

1. Give us the big picture very quickly. What’s the long-term vision? One sentence, maybe two.
2. Now explain what skills will be crucial to succeeding at that effort, and complete this thought by explaining what portion of that you have, and more important don’t have, and are hoping to develop. This should break down into two pieces: (1) The MBA, but before that (2) Your very next steps, this next job, the company you’re going to join, the role, and what you’re hoping to accomplish there, and why.
3. Tie it all together and show us step-by-step how each phase leads elegantly to the next.

Essay question (350-500 words): Why is our Tepper Future Business Leaders format a good fit for your MBA program?  

What research have you done on possible business school options for you, given your current phase (still in college)? What are the features of an ideal business school, given your goals, and your particular profile/background/skill set? At this point, you will have established what *an* ideal program looks like, and how it would bring out the best in you given your specific profile and circumstances. Now take us through the specific ways in which several features of the Tepper Future Business Leaders format suits you in a way that is noteworthy, and makes for a particularly good fit. You can do this by drawing contrasts with other programs, indicating specific aspects of CMU that ‘meet the brief’ best/better.

1. Describe the conditions in which you thrive - academically, socially, all of it. Show us examples from your recent past.
2. Now take us through your business goals, and what a business school experience might look like that would deliver the greatest ‘enhancing’ effect on you and your goals, given that stuff from Bullet Point #1 above.
3. Now go through your specific examples of how, after your meticulous research efforts (and you’ll tell us what these have been), the CMU offering is the best of the bunch. How, why, where’s the evidence for this? Connect the CMU opportunities specifically to your goals, your optimal learning environment, all of it. Make the case that given who you are, the combo of you + CMU is the best combo of all possible combos. Easier said than done. The only way to succeed here is to make a compelling case of how if you were to land at another program, sure you would succeed, but it wouldn’t be *the best* version, given specific opportunities available at CMU.

The Rice supplement offers you the opportunity to share more about yourself. This is your chance to tell us why you are interested in Rice and what you would like to pursue as a student here. We also want you to elaborate on your experiences and achievements to share what you would bring to our community.

Essay Prompts (2024-2025)

1. Please explain why you wish to study in the academic areas you selected. 150 word limit.

When you apply to Rice, you select one ‘Division of Study’ of the seven they offer: architecture, business, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences. This decision is NOT binding… you have until your sophomore Spring to declare a major. While transferring into one of the more specialized Divisions of Study like architecture or music might be more challenging, changing your Division is otherwise generally not a problem. So, pick the academic area(s) that make the most sense to you based on what you know now, and write the essay accordingly. 

The Rice Admissions FAQ page says, “As a part of your application, you will select a Division of Study and up to three majors/areas of interest including minors. You will have the opportunity to elaborate on your academic areas of interest in your Rice Writing Supplement. Students will be assessed on their preparedness and alignment to the majors they selected.”

So sit down with a list of the areas you indicated on your application, and do the following:

• First, give your ‘why’... what makes you passionate about this area of study? How did you get to this current interest… did you originally think you’d study medicine but then you were blown away by your junior year Government class, and now you know that’s your calling? Were you sure you wanted to be an actor, but then when you volunteered as a hospital clown at the local children’s hospital, you knew you needed to be a pediatrician to help those kids in a different way? Include any unexpected twists or tensions, as these can make your story stand out from the crowd. 
• Next, list any experiences that pertain to this area of study. Some of these experiences will likely be academic coursework, others may be extracurricular (within or outside your school). Keep in mind that you can (and should!) make connections between a diverse set of experiences that have led you to this interest. Maybe it was volunteering for a different kind of nonprofit that sparked your passion for giving back, ADDED TO your academic interests in XYZ, which ultimately—collectively—led you to know you want to study/do ABC. You’re young—don’t feel you need to already be an expert in the thing you want to study! Just make a clear and compelling case as to why it totally makes sense that you want to study this thing, and why they have every reason to believe you’ll excel in these studies. 

150 words go by fast, so the more you can align your experiences with your ‘why’, the better!

2. Based upon your exploration of Rice University, what elements of the Rice experience appeal to you? 150 word limit.

Rice is an elite university, yes, but the admissions committee is digging to determine if your connection to—and fit for—Rice is more specific than just its ranking or its reputation as one of the ‘Southern Ivies’. Take a close look at the language: ‘based on your exploration of Rice university’... a key element here is showing the admissions committee that you have, in fact, explored Rice University. Obviously a thorough Googling is always recommended, but ideally you’ll be able to point to specific ways you’ve engaged with the Rice community. What really stood out to you during a campus visit? If flying from Maine to Houston was financially prohibitive, no worries! Have you spoken to alums 1:1? Attended virtual panels of alums talking about their experience? Ideally you can point to at least one way you went the extra mile to research Rice, and connect it to why Rice—specifically—is the perfect school for you. 

Something important to keep in mind: Rice is an elite college with top research faculty, but it’s not for everybody. It’s a smallish college (~4500 undergrads) in a big Southern metropolis (Houston, TX). A key element of the Rice experience is their residential colleges: they randomly sort incoming students into residential colleges, which create an even ‘smaller-town’ feel in a already smallish college. You’ll know everyone in your residential college by name. You’ll have engagement and leadership opportunities within the college. For some, this is amazing; for others, it’s just not their thing. 

So, when you’re identifying what about the Rice experience appeals to you, there are two ways to skin that cat:

1. Find aspects of the Rice experience that other candidates might NOT like, and explain why – in contrast to these other folks – you’re actually THRILLED about these aspects. So, while other applicants might choose another elite school because of these quirks, you’re excited about Rice BECAUSE of them.
2. Find things that only exist at Rice, or things whose VERSIONS at Rice are somehow unique, and therefore (because of ABC reasons), are more aligned to what YOU need and want. 

The trick here is not just identifying any “elements of the Rice experience that appeal to you”. If  you end up identifying elements that can equally be said of most other peer institutions, your unique connection to Rice won’t be as clear. 

150 words is 1-2 paragraphs, so take a crack at one of those two options and you’ll be on your way to a solid first draft.

3. Please respond to one of the following prompts to explore how you will contribute to the Rice community:

• The Residential College System is at the heart of Rice student life and is heavily influenced by the particular cultural traditions and unique life experiences each student brings. What life experiences and/or unique perspectives are you looking forward to sharing with fellow Owls in the residential college system? 500 word limit.

• Rice is strengthened by its diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders and change agents across the spectrum of human endeavor. What perspectives shaped by your background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity inspire you to join our community of change agents at Rice? 500 word limit.

Both of these essay prompt options are getting at a similar theme, with different framings. 

Here are the common threads:

• How is your lived experience unique? 
• How will that unique lived experience add to the diversity of perspectives within the Rice community?
• How will these experiences and perspectives inform how you navigate life at Rice?

Make a list of ways in which your lived experience is unique (not as in ‘you’re the only person who could say this’... think of ways you believe your perspective will add to the diversity of Rice’s student body). 

For each list item, think of a story that exemplifies this lived experience. Then, jot down how this lived experience ALREADY informs how you navigate community and interpersonal relationships. 

Hopefully by now you’ve got your top-pick topic (pun intended!)... let’s call that ‘Experience X’ (it doesn’t have to be a one-time experience! It can be a lifelong identity, etc.) Now, run it through this test, by inserting the topic into these two sentences: 

• ‘I’m specifically excited to share my unique perspective I have thanks to Experience X with my residential college peers at Rice, which will be meaningful for them and for me because [insert reason(s) here].’
• I’m a change agent thanks to the ways that Experience X has shaped me. Here are the ways I’m already a change agent [XYZ], and here’s why I’m specifically excited to join the community of change agents at Rice [ABC]. 

Pick the prompt that fits your strongest story better. Keep in mind that most of the essay should be about your experience, perspective and/or identity and how this has shaped YOU and how you navigate the world, but don’t forget to add the specific ‘at Rice’ element of either prompt. Identify a way in which you’re specifically excited to bring this lived experience TO RICE. The essay is ultimately about YOU, and secondarily how you + Rice = match made in heaven… you’re not writing an essay about Rice. 

Rice Box

One of Rice's long-standing traditions is “The Box,” a question on our application where we ask all of our applicants to share an image of something that appeals to them. The Box gives you the opportunity to present us with an image that shares something about yourself, your interests or what is meaningful to you. This image is not used for evaluative purposes in the application, but allows you to put your stamp on the application about who you are aside from what you have achieved. Be sure to choose an image that speaks for itself and does not need an explanation. The Box must be a two-dimensional image that is uploaded in the Common Application or uploaded in the Rice Admission Student Portal.

Do be thoughtful, but don’t overthink this one. Are there any particular areas of your life where a picture is worth a thousand words? Family? A community? An artistic passion? Especially if you haven’t gotten to do a deep-dive into this area elsewhere in your application?

This sentence from the prompt bears repeating: “Be sure to choose an image that speaks for itself and does not need an explanation.”

And this phrase, too: “put your stamp on the application about who you are aside from what you have achieved.” The photograph CAN be related to an achievement, but needs to add something to your application! If you wrote an essay about how you won a national contest, don’t waste this unique branding opportunity with a photo of you on that same contest podium. We already got that part. Show us a new side of yourself… or show us something that can’t be fully communicated in words. 

While you do want your photo to be SALIENT and MEMORABLE, it should tie into what makes you YOU. If it’s a photo of you next to a celebrity—just ’cuz—that’s cool, but it doesn’t further your personal brand on your Rice application. Make it memorably you.

The Tepper School of Business is proud to be a long-standing member of The Consortium. Applicants should submit their application via The Consortium application.  

The mission of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an alliance of more than 20 graduate business schools and some of our country’s top corporations, is to enhance diversity in business education and leadership by helping to reduce the under-representation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in both its member schools’ enrollment and the ranks of management.

The Consortium fulfills its mission by attracting and recruiting qualified candidates from underrepresented groups, as well as other U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents who have demonstrated significant contributions to promoting diversity in the workplace.

Tepper supplemental application includes the following essay topic:

The Tepper School community is committed to helping students reach their full potential. Explain your philosophy on helping others achieve their full potential. How have you implemented this philosophy in your professional life, and what impact has it had on those around you? How will this philosophy influence your approach to leadership at the Tepper School and beyond? (maximum 500 words)

This is the same question posed to first time MBA applicants, check out “Carnegie Mellon (CMU) Tepper Business School MBA Essay” above!

We are pleased to announce Emory University’s short answer questions for the 2024-2025 first-year application.

In addition to your Personal Statement, please answer two additional short answer questions, one about your academic interests and one to help us get to know you better. We encourage you to be thoughtful in your responses and not stress about what the “right answer” might be, as there really isn’t one.

Academic Interests

This question is required. (200 Words Recommended Length)

What academic areas are you interested in exploring at Emory University and why?

Note the language here… they’re not framing the question as, ‘what is your intended major?’—in fact, there’s a plural… ‘areas’. Let’s be clear… more isn’t necessarily better in answering this question, but they’re also not asking you to lock yourself into a major and a career path. They’re trying to understand what INTERESTS you… and WHY. 

You’ve only got 200 words here, so limiting your answer to max. two areas of study will leave you space to answer the ‘why’, which is an equally—if not more—crucial part of your answer. Emory is looking for smart students who are academic achievers, sure, but they also want to know what drives you, beyond the all-seeing eye of your parents and teachers and the fear of not getting into a good college. What will KEEP YOU GOING once you’re in college, and in your career?

Pick two or three academic areas that you’re excited about, and take some time to journal about the ‘why’. Are you just totally geeked out on Medieval Studies per se? Are you excited about public health because of the specific impact you hope to have during your career? And beyond your major, do you know you want to keep studying theater because it’s really where you find your most authentic voice and build strong friendships?

If you have three, let’s narrow it down to two areas for the next part of the exercise, which is, how did you arrive at this specific interest? Tell us a (true) story, ideally one with some kind of tension or conflict. Were you initially jazzed about area X, but then you took a class with your now-favorite teacher who made you rapt with subject Y? Are you really jazzed about area Y despite your parents having always told you you’d grow up to be an X? Or are both your parents Xs, and even though you made your best attempt at teenage rebellion, you can’t help but be drawn to be an X as well? Your goal isn’t to convince the adcoms that you definitely, 100% know what you want to be ‘when you grow up’, but rather that your passion for learning—and maybe also for what learning can allow you to do in the world—is sincere. If you can, throw them off kilter a bit with an unpredictable story. 

This will be about 75% of your 200 words. Finally, you need to explain to them that, of all the places you could study A and B, Emory is a perfect match for you because [faculty, department, research, community, etc.] Do your homework and understand what sets these Emory departments apart from their peers. Then connect what’s unique about Emory to what’s unique about you. There’s an art here to drawing a clear connection that’s sincere… the best essays will always be true and feel to you like they really resonate with your experience, even if you developed this perspective in the course of writing the essay. 

Getting to Know You

In addition, answer one of the following questions. (150 Words)

• Which book, character, song, monologue, or piece of work (fiction or non-fiction) seems made for you? Why?

• Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.

• Emory University’s unique mission calls for service to humanity. Share how you might personally contribute to this mission of service to humanity.

• Emory University has a strong commitment to building community. Tell us about a community that you have been part of where your participation helped to change or shape the community for the better.

Before we dig into each of the four options individually, let’s talk about what they’re looking for. In your first essay, you spoke to your academic interests—now that you’ve covered that, let’s move onto other parts of you. 

If you glance over the four prompts, you might think, ‘one of these things is not like the other’, and on the surface you’d be right. The first prompt (which work of art is made for you and why?) feels different from prompts two through four, which ask direct questions pertaining to your character in relation to others (to community, to other cultures, or to humanity). Of those, prompts two and four ask about something YOU ALREADY DID (or are doing), and three poses a hypothetical about the future. 

Let’s clear something up: your response to ANY of the four prompts should seize the opportunity to SHOW them something about your character based on something YOU ALREADY DID (or are doing). Select the prompt that elicits your strongest ‘character’ story, and ideally, that also leads to a ‘so what?’—i.e., where is this taking you going forward? What kind of person do you aspire to be because of this aspect of your character? What is it driving you towards?

Take time to sit with each prompt, and jot down a few topic options for each. Next, run each topic through the following series of questions:

1. Does this story show something meaningful about my character?
2. Is the story that does the ‘showing’ exclusively internal to me (i.e., am I walking them through my thoughts that didn’t lead to any observable actions in the world)? Or does the story end with a meaningful impact (on a community, on specific ways I engage with individuals from other cultures, via service to humanity, etc.)?
3. Can I connect it specifically to the kind of person I want to be at school / in life?

Your best answers will show something meaningful about your character, feature a story with impact, and connect in some way to what you want to bring into the world (through service, or your career, or community engagements, etc.). As always, make sure the story is not redundant with your Common App personal statement or Emory’s first essay!

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

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

You know how in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1, the thing with the keys, and there’s two of them, but in order for this most important object that hold the keys to the world (literally), each individual key on its own is useless, but together, when merged…. cuz you know, it takes… both things to…… That.

CBS can give, and you can be a bog standard (selfish!) old school applicant and just take. But that’s not how CBS sees this partnership working. In fact, that’s an apt analogy: partnership. Imagine the 2-year MBA as a collaboration between (1) The Cohort of MBA students and (2) The Program Itself and Everything It Has to Offer. If you were tasked with drawing up ‘job descriptions’ in order to clarify the role of each ‘Managing Member,’ the role of CBS is fairly obvious. It would go something like:

• Attract the best and brightest business minds from all walks of life, and from all corners of the planet
• Attract the best teaching talent on the planet to help inspire and mentor these individuals
• Forge connections between the class and… the city of New York, the broader CBS network, top shelf companies that are ideally the most desirable landing spots for the graduating class.
• Design an experience that is so memorable and fulfilling that each graduating class becomes powerful advocates to future generations of would-be MBA seekers
• Leverage every conceivable opportunity to pave the way for unbridled success of the graduating classes such that their success itself becomes a free advertisement for future generations

That’s CBS’s part. But it’s just one key. Remember, Tom Cruise devotees, there’s two of em. What’s the other one’s role? What should the class be doing (and individuals within those classes) to add value and contribute to the ‘organization’s’ overall aims? It’s a neat question because the tendency is to understand the relationship between School and Student as Giver and Taker. CBS is inviting you to be a part of the thing. Well? Watchugot?

What *is* an optimal experience to begin with? There’s your first challenge. Let’s define where we’re headed, and understand the difference between a decent MBA experience and an amazing one. What does the amazing one even look like? What are the features? Without a clear sense of what that looks like, a premature dive into what and how you’ll contribute will lack critical context.

Once you’ve defined that end point, and ‘seem to get what makes for a valuable experience’ (itself a strong signal to the school that you have what it takes), your next challenge is to identify specific ways in which you believe you will add value to that effort. This will become a new type of differentiator between you and your competitors, beyond GMAT/GRE scores, promotion track record, etc. Are you able to identify a specific need at CBS that you are able to fill in a unique or impressive way? Are you able to understand what CBS is aiming to achieve, and address that need head on through your examples of where you’re able to add value?

Really, this question is a variation of: why are you pursuing an MBA - Translation - do you understand what an MBA education is meant to deliver, and how coherent are your goals such that you understand the precise value that this education might deliver? But also, do you get that part of the MBA experience is the result of ‘the class itself’? The ‘chemical interactions’ between all these enterprising, diverse, unique individuals? What do you add to that equation that contributes something positive to the overall?

Here’s how to approach:

1. First define what an optimal MBA experience even is, in your view. (‘An’ = in general = Not… CBS’s, for now.) Show us that you get why this degree exists, and what the value is. (50-75 words)
2. By example, show how that type of optimal experience will turbocharge your own personal career goals. (50-75 words)
3. Tie the ‘turbocharging’ effect on your own personal goals to the role of the class itself. And now, articulate how you will be as much as part of that, contributing to the ‘rising tide that lifts all boats (of which you are one)’ by showcasing the precise value add your candidacy represents. Be. Specific. (100-125 words)

If you wish to provide further information or additional context around your application to the Admissions Committee, please upload a brief explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or personal history. This does not need to be a formal essay. You may submit bullet points. (Maximum 500 Words)

Read our team’s complete take on the idea of the optional essay, including a brief (recent) history of b-schools’ relationship with it, and how our recommendations have evolved over the years, right here.

Check out analysis of the Optional Essay and Re-Applicant essay here:

• Optional Essay Analysis
• Re-Applicant Essay Analysis

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Application Prompts for 2024-2025

Your essay and short answer responses help us get to know you.

We’ve selected the following prompts for the UNC-specific portion for the first-year and transfer applications for 2024-2025. We’re proud of the Carolina community and how each student makes us better through their excellence, intellect, and character. In reading your responses, we hope to learn what being a part of the Carolina community would mean to you.

Short answer prompts

We’d like to know how you’d contribute to the Carolina community and ask that you respond to each prompt in up to 250 words.

1. Discuss one of your personal qualities and share a story, anecdote, or memory of how it helped you make a positive impact on a community. This could be your current community or another community you have engaged.
2. Discuss an academic topic that you’re excited to explore and learn more about in college. Why does this topic interest you? Topics could be a specific course of study, research interests, or any other area related to your academic experience in college.

Prompt 1: Discuss one of your personal qualities and share a story, anecdote, or memory of how it helped you make a positive impact on a community. This could be your current community or another community you have engaged.

Before we give you your writing assignment for this prompt, let's take a minute to notice that the word 'community' appears in the UNC Chapel Hill Common App supplement prompt SIX TIMES... that's as many times as the word 'the' shows up. This is not a coincidence... the UNC admissions committee wants to suss out what you'll bring to their community that they won't learn from your transcript or test scores.

Let your grades, courses, test scores, and your UNC Essay 2 speak to your intellectual horsepower and intellectual curiosity, and use UNC Essay 1 to inform them about your character. This rule of thumb for college essays holds true for this prompt: if no one else witnessed this story (i.e., you're exclusively telling them a story about your inner life and who you are as a person, without any out-in-the-world anchor points), it's likely not your strongest option.

Now onto the writing exercise… we're going to work backwards through the prompt here. List the communities you’ve been part of during your life (the time frame should include high school, ideally). Feel free to define community broadly here: community can be an established institution like a church, OR it can just be a group of people coming together for a shared goal or activity. You should choose the story that speaks most highly of your character in community, not the one that pertains to a community that best exemplifies the dictionary definition of 'community'.

Now, next to each community, describe a positive impact you had on that community, as well as the actions you took to create that impact. You can cross out any communities where you don't feel you had a measurable impact... you only need ONE strong story, after all! The best stories will generally include some kind of conflict or tension... you had to convince others that, while they'd been doing it THIS way for months/years/decades, actually the best approach was THAT way... and at first they didn't want to hear it! OR the community had a rift, and you used your empathy and people skills to find a path forward, or a way to bridge that rift.

From there, work backwards and write a list of personal qualities you'd ascribe to SOMEONE ELSE you heard had had that same impact on that same community. This is NOT the time for modesty... which is why we're having you imagine that you're describing someone else. It's often easier to sing someone else's praises.

Now, go through that list of attributes and pick one that resonates with who you know yourself to be as a person. Pay attention if you're shying away from descriptors for fear you'll look too proud—this is the moment to own your strengths!

As you craft your essay, keep in mind that a great story can show how you changed as a person through the process. It's totally fine (great, even) if you have a character arc over the course of the essay, going from someone who wouldn't bother to do XYZ to someone who's deeply committed to it! And always, always ensure that the story is anchored in the positive impact you had on a community. 

Prompt 2: Discuss an academic topic that you’re excited to explore and learn more about in college. Why does this topic interest you? Topics could be a specific course of study, research interests, or any other area related to your academic experience in college.

The UNC admissions committee is seeking to identify students who are both smart and intellectually curious. Your school transcript says a lot about your academic abilities, but UNC is looking for students with the curiosity and intrinsic motivation to continue to pursue intellectual interests even after they manage to get into college.

So, you're admitted to UNC Chapel Hill... no more APs, no more SATs... what fires you up? You don't need to convince them you know exactly what your post-grad career will be AND the exact set of courses you'll take to get you there... you need to convince them you have the curiosity to be a life-long learner, as exemplified by [insert amazing and credible story here].

So, whether you've decided on your major or are just really excited about an area of study or research, take a moment and write about how you got there. Were you initially more excited about field A, but then you had an amazing teacher who fired you up about subject B? Are you electrified about B despite your parents wanting you to do A? Or do both your parents do B, and try to rebel as you might, you couldn't quell your passion for B? You want their takeaway to be that you're really sincere in your passion, and the best stories are often the unpredictable ones.

All of this so far will take up the majority of your 250 words. The last bit is explaining how, of all the X departments out there, the X department at UNC is the best fit for you of all. Do your research... maybe it's the faculty, the research they're doing, or the department's... what was the word?... oh yeah, community. Connect this specific desirable aspect of the UNC program to something specific about you.

In a world where disconnection seems to often prevail, we are looking for students who embody the qualities of bridge builders—students who can connect people, groups, and ideas to span divides, foster understanding, and promote collaboration within a dynamic, interconnected, and vibrant global academic community. We are eager to understand how your experiences have prepared you to build the bridges of the future. Please consider one or more of the following questions in your essay (250 words or fewer):

1. What personal experiences or challenges have shaped you as a bridge builder?
2. How have you been a bridge builder in your school, community, or personal life?
3. What specific actions have you taken to build bridges between diverse groups, ideas, or cultures?
4. How do you envision being a bridge builder during your time at our university and beyond?

First of all, while NYU's supplemental essay is optional, we HIGHLY recommend writing a thoughtful reply to the prompt if you're serious about NYU. Any time you have the OPPORTUNITY to tell a school more about yourself... seize it!

NYU -- like the metropolis that houses it -- is dynamic, interconnected and global. The admissions committee wants to make sure that, if and when you're plunked in a dorm room off Washington Square Park surrounded by classmates from all walks of life, you can not only get by, but will thrive through building new connections and collaborations with the resources of NYU x NYC. Dartmouth it ain't—when your campus IS lower Manhattan, you don't have the same built-in nurturing cocoon as you might on a more rural campus. This is your opportunity to let them know (show, don't tell) that—not only are you ready for the NYU experience, but the NYU experience is PERFECT for you. You're someone who connects communities, resources, ideas... someone who can bridge ideological gaps through sincere dialog and doesn't shy away from the unknown.

First, write a list of ways you've built bridges. Don't get too narrow at this moment... the impact of your story is the most important... you can retrofit the bridge-building metaphor to any number of stories. It could be a collaboration in the classroom, the time you saw a need and created a new club at school, community outreach work, tough conversations across ideological divides, etc. Pick the impactful story that allows you to really highlight how YOU saw and opportunity and built a bridge where previously there was only a ravine.

You don't need to be a city-slicker to nail this one. If you've always lived in a small town in Idaho, own it and subvert their expectations... "people assume my worldview is narrow because I was raised in a small rural town, but actually this has FORCED me to actively build bridges to branch out and grapple with XYZ to go out and get for myself what city kids take for granted." or "BECAUSE I was raised in this small and somewhat dogmatic community, whose values are very different from my own, my entire youth has been filled with hard conversations with people who disagree with me."

250 words is short, so we recommend choosing question 1, 2 or 3 to anchor your essay. Question 4 (how you envision being a bridge builder at NYU and beyond) can be pulled through from your main story... as in, 'I built THESE bridges already because I saw the need, and NYU will provide me with the ideal opporunity to continue to practice building bridges in XYZ ways, to have THIS impact at school and THAT impact as a global citizen throughout my life. Don't ONLY answer question #4... answers that rely solely on your assertion that you'll be X kind of student at NYU -- without any historical examples to justify that assertion -- don't have the same credibility as answers that draw a connection (or build a bridge, if you will!) between what you've done in the past and what you'll do in the future. Of course, your past doesn't LIMIT what you can do, but it can indicate what you're capable of, and the values that shape and inform your interactions with others.

For A.B. Degree Applicants or Those Who Are Undecided

In addition to the Common App essays, Princeton applicants must write:

1. EITHER this essay OR the Engineering essay (if you're applying to the Engineering program)
2. Your Voice Essay
3. Short Answers

Please note: Princeton also requires you to submit a graded written paper as part of your application.

As a research institution that also prides itself on its liberal arts curriculum, Princeton allows students to explore areas across the humanities and the arts, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. What academic areas most pique your curiosity, and how do the programs offered at Princeton suit your particular interests? (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.)

While your school transcript might speak to your academic capabilities, this essay prompt is digging to find out if you have the curiosity and drive to continue to excel once you don't have your parents breathing down your neck every night making sure you get all A's so you can GET INTO PRINCETON! Let's say you got into Princeton -- great! What's the spark that keeps you going? What's key here isn't to convince them that you love math which means you're just going to keep loving MATH MATH MATH once you get to Princeton... the key is to show them you have the learning bug, and that the best medicine is PRINCETON'S version of the liberal arts curriculum.

The best answers will center a subject or subjects that totally have you nerding out with glee, and that have ALSO driven you to keep learning even when all the required assignments were done. That time you wrote a history paper that kept you researching well after it was done, and that research led you to volunteer at a local XYZ organization and then, and then, and then...? Or the history paper led you to an independent study on the science behind the history lesson, and you found yourself wending your way through subjects following this breadcrumb trail of intellectual curiosity?

That's part one... part two is connecting this to WHY PRINCETON. Great answers here will show an understanding of what makes Princeton UNIQUE... beyond their rankings or a 'great liberal arts program'... beyond anything that could be said of the other top 7 schools. For instance, all those top 7 schools are homes to the very best of the best research faculty... but at few others will you take as many classes TAUGHT BY those same tippity top faculty. Find what makes Princeton unique, then make a case for why this is the sine qua non of your liberal arts education.

Learn more and explore each step of Princeton’s undergraduate application process here.

For B.S.E Degree Applicants

Please describe why you are interested in studying engineering at Princeton. Include any of your experiences in or exposure to engineering, and how you think the programs offered at the University suit your particular interests. (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.)

You may wanna address the elephant in the room, which is… “are you pursuing engineering because your parents made you”? hahah. It’s either gonna be EXACTLY your situation (you wanna be an artist but your parents say “Nuh Unh”), or the exact opposite (your parents want you to be an artist, and YOU say, nope, me like engineering), or it’s somewhere in between. It doesn’t matter which one it is. What matters is emerging with the reader saying “this kid is GENUINE about it.” More often than not, the argument you THINK makes for the most compelling sell on why you’re interested in something (in this case engineering), is the least convincing. Usually, because it makes… too much sense. Sounds too perfect. Is too predictable. The best arguments are the ones that are surprising, unpredictable, off-balance somehow.

“Hey so, both my parents are engineers and have kinda insisted that I also be an engineer and have threatened to disown me if I don’t become an engineer, so that’s part of it. I decided to do it, but I decided that I would HATE it. Because I was a kid and that’s what kids do in response to anything their parents say. So that’s what I did. I took classes with a “Harumph” arms-folded attitude, cuz it’s all I had. The thing is? No matter how hard I tried, I frickin loved it. DAMNIT! Must. Not. Let. Parents. Win…” yada yada. It’s possible to take what COULD have been a predictable version (parents said I had to) and turn INTO something a little surprising.

You just need to find the element that’s true to YOUR experience and bring it front and center. That’s your ticket into to SELLING your interest in engineering, your plans for it, your love of the study OF it, etc.

All that selling of YOUR draw toward engineering, your plans, etc., should take up maybe 70% of the thing. The final piece is convincing us that of all the engineering programs out there, somehow the one at PRINCETON snaps into place with you and your interests and skillset… differently and better than others. In order to make that argument, you need to map specific elements of the Princeton engineering program to specific aspects of what YOU NEED in order to excel… the most. This isn’t easy. And it’s all about specificity and making those connections. Not simply in IDENTIFYING aspects of the programs which seem promising or noteworthy. Gotta connect to something specific about you.

Learn more and explore each step of Princeton’s undergraduate application process here.

Princeton values community and encourages students, faculty, staff and leadership to engage in respectful conversations that can expand their perspectives and challenge their ideas and beliefs. As a prospective member of this community, reflect on how your lived experiences will impact the conversations you will have in the classroom, the dining hall or other campus spaces. What lessons have you learned in life thus far? What will your classmates learn from you? In short, how has your lived experience shaped you?  (Please respond in 500 words or fewer.)

The prompt itself is nearly 100 words, and you may be tempted to answer each question sequentially… RESIST this urge, and instead, take the time to find a strong point of view coming into this essay. 

Here are the essential parts:

• How has your lived experience shaped you? They’re looking to build an incoming class with a diversity of lived experience – and by extension, ideological diversity. Find ONE LENS to describe the uniqueness of your lived experience, and ONE KEY STORY that illustrates it. 
• How will this make you an engaged member of the Princeton community? They’re digging to learn if you have perspectives that may challenge the ideas of others WHILE ALSO being open to having your own beliefs challenged. While the latter without the former may imply a lack of character development, the former without the latter might make you sound like an ideologue. 

Make a list of the ways in which your lived experience is unique/notable: this can be the influence of a person, a community, specific experiences you’ve had, aspects of your identity, etc. Next to each item, write a few sentences or bullets about how it’s shaped you, as well as an anecdote that exemplifies this. Finally, reflect on how each shapes the way you engage with others, including and especially people who are different from you. 

Go back through your list. Your ideal lens will be: different from what many others could say, showing values in relationship to others, and attached to an engaging story. Ideally, the story should be one that at least one other person observed… stories that center around an internal epiphany tend to fall flat as essay topics. 

Once you’ve landed on a thesis, do weave in the various questions in the prompt, but don’t structure your essay by answering them sequentially. They’re all pointing in the same direction… the uniqueness of your lived experience and what that says about how you’ll engage with and add to the Princeton community. 

Princeton has a longstanding commitment to understanding our responsibility to society through service and civic engagement. How does your own story intersect with these ideals? (Please respond in 250 words or fewer.)

This one’s pretty straightforward: Princeton wants to know that, not only are they admitting the sharpest crayons in the box, but that their admits are committed to giving back to the communities around them through service and civic engagement. 

Make a list of your biggest commitments that fall under the broad umbrella of ‘service and civic engagement’. Examples could run the gamut from volunteerism, work for a religious or secular community organization, involvement in politics or elections, individual activism or involvement in collective action, etc. 

Note the language, ‘How does your own story intersect with these ideals?’ Not only do they want to know about a way you’ve been involved in service or civic engagement, they want to hear about how that work intersects with your broader story… that is, they want the ‘on ramp’ to that activity, as well as how it’s shaped where you’re going. So, for each bullet point in this list, write a column for ‘how I got there’ and ‘where I’m going/how it’s shaped me’. The best topics will involve the development of your character… what initially drove you to get involved, what you learned, and how it changed you. If what initially drove you was ‘I had to for XYZ external reason,’ that’s totally fine IF you had some kind of important learning during the process, and it drove you to do more of ABC without an exogenous requirement. If one of your options is something that you’ve always done because your family does it and there’s not a whole lot of what’s uniquely you in the story, it might not be your strongest option.

You can also read through our Princeton school profile.

Learn more and explore each step of Princeton’s undergraduate application process here.

Please respond to each question in 50 words or fewer. There are no right or wrong answers. Be yourself!

1. What is a new skill you would like to learn in college?
2. What brings you joy? 
3. What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?

As an addendum to the prompt, we'd say... there are no wrong answers per se, and definitely be yourself... however, don't answer these questions as if they were standalone questions... it's important to select your answers as complements to the rest of your application.

Embrace contradictions. If the rest of your application paints you as the the withdrawn but brilliant “I hate everything” suffering artist type, it’ll blow people’s minds to hear that taking your little cousin to the trampoline park every Saturday and squealing with joy as you both SOAR or that you're a diehard Swiftie. If you’re the ATHLETE, or the SCIENCE GUY, or the CLASS PRESIDENT/VALEDICTORIAN gal, or the whatever… it gets MUCH cooler if of of your answers to these question BETRAYS our predictions for what “that type of kid” would probably write. Long and short of it is… knock people off balance a bit. But you gotta do this deliberately. There’s an art to it.

On a similar note, if there's an important part of your life that you haven't gotten the chance to fully address elsewhere in your application, find a way to work it into one of these answers. As in, 'I'm really into X activity, so I want to learn Y in college to continue developing this passion' or 'Doing ABC every Sunday brings me joy, since I get to connect with X community, or myself, etc.'

Consider these questions 'is there anything else we should know about you?'-type questions... 50 words is JUST enough space to pique their curiosity about as in, 'Wow! we knew she was an engineering whiz but... she's a Bach nerd too and plays the oboe?? What can't she do?!'

Learn more and explore each step of Princeton’s undergraduate application process here.

When you’re ‘transferring’ you’re (usually) choosing to go from a place to a different place. Usually it’s because you’re looking for an important upgrade along one or more dimensions; sometimes it’s pure circumstance. Regardless, there’s a reason underlying the need for change. Let’s start there.

Before we dig in, let’s get some stuff out of the way. While the cause of your transfer need may be entirely circumstantial, there still needs to be some compelling reason for hoping to land a spot at “Target Program Y” beyond “because what other choice do I have?”

For our purposes here, what’s more interesting is the reason for ending up at “Starting Point X.” You either chose this (and ended up choosing wrong), or, you were left with an undesirable choice, and needed to suck it up for a year and try again. Before we develop a compelling argument for why you’re now seeking a change, it will be very helpful to come to terms with how you ended up at Program #1 to begin with. Here are some possibilities:

• Option 1 - You truly deserved––and may have even earned––a seat at a different (higher-ranked, more competitive, etc.) institution, but circumstances were such that you had to make a difficult choice, and essentially trade something more preferable for something less preferable, knowing that you’d regain the opportunity to apply again in a year or two.
• Option 2 - You missed the cut for the more competitive/more desirable programs initially, but then dedicated yourself to retooling aspects of your profile that would make up that difference on a future attempt.
• Option 3 - You aimed at your original choice school, nailed it, felt like you’d hit the jackpot (or even just ‘did well enough’), only to discover that your destiny actually may exist somewhere else, likely as a result of feeling stagnated, or disappointed, or developing in ways you hadn’t anticipated which unlocked a new option set you originally weren’t aware of when you’d initially contemplated your potential. But things changed, and now you want more.

It’s usually one of these three. Find the one that resonates the most, or if it’s different, using these as examples, articulate precisely what your version was. This gets us to ‘the why are you transferring’ part of the question. The next thing we want to understand is this: we get that you want to ‘leave’ your current place. But why do you want to come ‘here’ in particular? What is it about ‘our place’ that convinces you your current issues will be solved, your newfound hopes answered? You have countless options available to you that would ostensibly improve your situation. Why this place? 

Before you answer those, there’s a *crucial* and sneaky additional question you need to wrap your mind around. Your new target school may be thinking this (and if they’re smart, they have to wonder this): regardless of how sound your reasoning may be, the fact that you’re leaving Place #1 at all means that you are capable of ‘leaving a place in search for something else.’ While it is true that this is exactly what would happen to someone who sincerely found themselves at Starting Point X, needed to make a change, and then Settled at Landing Point Y, it is also exactly how this would look for someone who:

• Is a quitter
• Will always be unhappy, wherever they go
• Doesn’t actually know what they want, and will always question it, all of the time, lurching from A to B to C to D to…
• Can’t hack it for inexplicable reasons, wildcard, unpredictable

That’s the last person a school wants to take a chance on. ‘Stickiness’ matters a lot for making a school look good; that is, when people choose your school and then never leave because your school is so good. The stated reasons for wanting to change will appear to be the same for (1) the sincere guy who deserves it, as well as (2) the flighty guy who may be a drifter. That question of “‘well which guy are YOU?” needs to be extinguished. Hard. This is where sober, well-thought-through reasoning, with solid supporting arguments will help your cause.

So, when articulating why you believe School Y will fit you better, you need to make a case not just for how this program fits you better, but we need to see evidence that when you fit well, you have a well-established pattern of follow-through. If you can demonstrate that You + Good Fitting Program is destined for follow-through, now we have something. Now we’re not so concerned that the first marriage didn’t work out. You’re human. This happens to the best of us.

Let’s put it together:

1. Let’s start with what it is you were looking for, and where you ended up.
2. Now, let’s get a sense of what transpired that led you to realize something was not working, or caused a realization that you needed more to realize your full potential, or to achieve a better version of fulfillment.
3. Define what that renewed sense of ‘what you need’ is: This includes your goals, what you need from a program/environment, newfound realizations for what your own strengths and capabilities are, and what will support/feed those.
4. Now explain why you have set your sights on Target School Y, specifically. Here you’ll map specific features of Target School Y that meet your needs far better than not only Original School X, but Most Alternatives In General. Take us through several examples, convince us through specifics that demonstrate a deep engagement with this program, and even a sense that you’ve ‘trialed’ it enough to develop a high level of confidence that ‘this’ is the place for you.
5. Show us how you flourish under the right circumstances, and have a proven track record here. And reiterate how your needs have changed, and how determined you are realize your truer potential at this other program.

If you think through all the ‘stuff’ above, and follow this general road map, you should touch on most of the key points that will give us a very strong first draft.

Required of all applicants. Please respond in 100 words or fewer:

As you seek admission to Dartmouth's Class of 2029, what aspects of the college's academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?

Something important to keep in mind as you apply to Dartmouth is this: Dartmouth is an elite Ivy League school, but it’s not for everybody. It’s a small college (about 4500 undergrads) in a small town in New Hampshire. Columbia it’s not! So while every college you apply to wants to know that you want them specifically, you need to go the extra mile in selling Dartmouth on this idea. And to be clear… the people who end up at Dartmouth LOVE Dartmouth. Something about that idea, that everyone there is really INTO it (for whatever reasons) seems to be a part of what makes Dartmouth tick. So, when you’re identifying aspects of Dartmouth that attract you, there are two ways to NAIL it:

• Option 1 – Find things that other candidates might find UNAPPEALING (who, because of these things, might prefer ANOTHER Ivy League school), and explain why – in contrast – you’re actually EXCITED by them…
• Option 2 – Find things that only exist at Dartmouth, and nowhere else. Or things whose VERSIONS at Dartmouth are unique somehow, and therefore (because of reasons X Y and Z) snap into place better with YOUR needs and wants. So, whereas others might choose another Ivy because of these quirks, you’re eyeing Dartmouth BECAUSE of them.

See the difference here? Between either of these two options and simply trying to identify “things about Dartmouth that attract you”? If you’re not careful, and you take that question at face value, you’ll end up identifying stuff that’s ultimately common to many Ivies, and your UNUSUAL connection to Dartmouth won’t be as apparent.

100 words is a paragraph, so if you take a stab at either of those options, you should be well on your way to a decent first draft.

Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:

1. There is a Quaker saying: Let your life speak. Describe the environment in which you were raised and the impact it has had on the person you are today.

This is a cool question, but it’s very open-ended. Lots of directions you could pursue. But also, notice that this question is RIPE for a fundamentally YAWN-WORTHY response. Let’s do… not that, shall we?

This may be counterintuitive, but start by thinking about a few BORING ways to describe the environment you were raised in, and how it impacted you. Seriously, imagine versions of exactly how that would go. What would make your audience go, “Um, is that… uh, anything else besides that enormously predictable thing you just said?” or…. “Is that literally everything you can tell me about your upbringing? I’m all caught up? … Thanks?” Try it. 

Spoiler alert: Here’s what you’ll find. The one thing that will be common to EVERY version that’s boring is… LACK OF CONFLICT.

If your dad was an army general, that might be amazing, but what if your grandfather had also been in the army and your dad wanted to be in the army from a very young age? And your dad loved being in the army and made it through without much hassle? And then went and had a great career? And didn’t see any action but had a great time, and came back and lived a great life? Well, good for him (it’s actually GREAT in reality), and his environment clearly shaped him, but for an essay like this, it’s the worst story ever.

Conflict, tensions, challenges and obstacles are key components of an interesting story. The Hero’s Journey ALWAYS involves a major crisis (and the hero’s victory, of course!). 

So, first things first, find the conflict! Find what made any aspect of the environment you were raised in… tricky. Make a list of these conflicts. While this might be interesting on its own, remember, we need to segue into how this has impacted YOU. Just because your parents both did XYZ, doesn’t mean your conclusion needs to be “AND THAT’S WHY I FIND MYSELF DOING ABC TODAY!” It can be connected directly, or it could even be “um, given all that, how crazy is it that *I’M* who I am today!” Or it can be a different relationship entirely, that’s where your creativity will come through. There’s an art form to making a smart connection OF SOME VARIETY. But you do need to connect it all somehow.

Now, what do you do if there’s no TENSION in the environment you were raised in, or between you and that environment? (Maybe do a second pass if that’s your initial conclusion?) Well, then YOU need to be the interesting one against a background of plainness. You are the Technicolor character in the black and white movie. In this case, you need to represent CONTRAST to something.

OR—if neither of those leads anywhere good, your final option might be, if you’re still aligned to the environment you grew up with in most ways, the CONTRAST between that environment, and ‘the rest of the world’ (the community, whomever), may be the answer. Contrast of some sort usually needs to be a part of the soup here.

2. "Be yourself," Oscar Wilde advised. "Everyone else is taken." Introduce yourself.

This prompt gets you out of the specific framing of ‘the environment in which you were raised,’ but it does NOT exempt you from describing the fires in which *you* were forged! Once again, there are surely 50 boring directions we could all go in to answer this question. 

We know you do a bunch of cool things, and are really smart. That will all show up on your application elsewhere. Here, they’re asking about what you’re *really* made of. One of Dartmouth’s key values is being really committed to… well… values. They’re on a mission to educate ethical citizens. They’re not asking for a description of your moral, ethical or religious values. This is an opportunity to SHOW them who you are when it hits the fan. What makes you unique, down to your core? What specific value do YOU add to a community that your peers wouldn’t?

At the risk of sounding like drama hounds, let’s go back to… that’s right… conflict. Make a list of the toughest things you’ve gone through in your life, then name how each has made you uniquely you. Finally, add a column for ways that you’ve TAKEN ACTION because of this particular thing about you. 

Action is the key here. It might be a repeated action like volunteering, or a time you stuck your neck out to stand up for what you knew was right. But it doesn’t suffice to just TELL them you're an XYZ type of person. You need to SHOW them. Remember, this is YOUR Hero’s Journey… take them for that ride.

Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:

Before we get into the specific prompt options here, let’s generalize a bit: these prompts all—in different ways—touch on purpose, drive and/or curiosity. If the previous essay was a ‘who are you?’ question, think of this as a ‘what makes you tick?’ question. Obviously there can be overlap between those two, or between this essay and one of your Common App essays, so make sure you’re telling them something NEW here.

To recap, Dartmouth is a smallish community (heavy emphasis on ‘community’!) in a fairly rural area that prides itself on its values, its commitment to inclusivity, and its academic excellence through independent thinking and collaboration. If your transcript and letters of recommendation will speak to your academic excellence & intellectual curiosity, you can consider leaning into the purpose version of this essay. Or if you’ve drained ‘purpose’ through your activities and previous essays, nerd out and show them how your intellectual curiosity comes to life!

We recommend going through the following prompts and making a quick list of possible answers to each prompt. Build them out with a couple sentences. Identify any stories you could leverage to SHOW them, not just tell them. 

Once you’ve done that, go back through the list and consider which adds the most to your application HOLISTICALLY – which shores up any potential perceived weakness? Or develops a part of your ‘character’ that hasn’t yet made it onto the application? Which shows your commitment to inclusive practices when the rubber hits the road? Which includes something memorable AND meaningful?

Then, choose the topic that will be the best essay to COMPLEMENT and STRENGTHEN the rest of your application. 

A. What excites you?

Make a list! Next to each item, write anything you’ve DONE connected to this thing. Your best topic here will be not just something that excites you per se, but that invigorates you and spurs you into action – whether intellectual, community-oriented or otherwise. 

B. Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta recommended a life of purpose. "We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things," she said. "That is what we are put on the earth for." In what ways do you hope to make—or are you already making—an impact? Why? How?

If you have an important impact story that you haven’t exhausted in another essay, this is your moment! SHOW them how you’ve made an impact. Pay attention to the part of the quote, ‘not just to acquire things’: great answers here will likely include a difficult trade-off. You had to turn down an easy gain, or something that seemed really fun and gratifying, to do this harder but much, much more important thing. What did you need to sacrifice to make this impact? You can focus your essay on the impact, but your commitment will seem that much more credible if you can show what you gave up. Remember to answer both HOW and WHY!

C. In "Oh, The Thinks You Can Think," Dr. Seuss invites us to "Think and wonder. Wonder and think." Imagine your anticipated academic major: How does that course of study sync with Dr. Seuss's advice to you?

If you tentatively know what you want to major in, think of that topic, and imagine how four years of drinking deep from those sweet intellectual waters will form you as a person. How will taking time to study, question and ponder—ideally, with a specific Dartmouth department/faculty—prepare you to take action down the line?

Our caveat here is that this one can easily go in a navel-gazing direction, so only go this route if a) you have a strong story and b) it adds to your overall application. 

D. The social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees have been the focus of Dame Jane Goodall's research for decades. Her understanding of animal behavior prompted the English primatologist to see a lesson for human communities as well: "Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right." Channel Dame Goodall: Tell us about a moment when you engaged in a difficult conversation or encountered someone with an opinion or perspective that was different from your own. How did you find common ground?

Pay careful attention to the end of this prompt: How did you find common ground? This is NOT an opportunity to tell them how you came into a conversation with the moral high ground and enlightened those wrong-minded folks. There must be an element of PERSPECTIVE-TAKING. Even if you’re recounting a conversation wherein you were advocating for human rights to a deeply bigoted person, you must show how a bridge was built, and you were willing to set aside your knowns to engage sincerely in dialog with this person(s) and understand where they were coming from.

The best students, like the best leaders, may be great speakers… but generally, they’re even better listeners. The story arc outlined in their prompt could have multiple trajectories… you convinced another person of your side, they convinced you of theirs, or you (both, maybe) ended at a totally new perspective from where any of you began. Here, process is key. Yes, set up the conversation or encounter, and then tell us HOW you found common ground. 

E. Celebrate your nerdy side.

See prompt (A) for guidance, although here, ‘action’ might be more along the lines of independent projects, research, starting a club, etc. Show them how your nerdy streak drives you!

F. "It's not easy being green…" was the frequent refrain of Kermit the Frog. How has difference been a part of your life, and how have you embraced it as part of your identity, outlook, or sense of purpose?

List the ways you are/have felt different from others during your life. This difference might or might not have been obvious, noticeable or known to others around you. 

Now pay careful attention to the second part of the question: ‘HOW have you embraced it as part of your identity, outlook, or sense of purpose?’ Here, it’s not enough to assert that you HAVE embraced it, come to fully love and accept yourself, etc., but you need to spell out HOW. What gives? How will this difference not only make you a UNIQUE addition to the Dartmouth community, but someone with a unique outlook and sense of purpose? 

Generally, the best essays will highlight a period or moment when you struggled with this difference (internally or externally), learned something, then ultimately accepted and perhaps even WELCOMED this difference as an asset.

G. Buddy Teevens '79 was a legendary and much-beloved coach at Dartmouth. He often told parents: "Your son will be a great football player when it's football time, a great student when it's academic time, and a great person all of the time." If Coach Teevens had said that to you, what would it mean to be "a great person"?

Make a list of the traits you believe make a person a ‘great person’. Then go back down the list and try to identify WHY you think that – or – maybe better yet – WHEN you came to that conclusion? A strong answer here won’t just be an explanation of your personal values, but rather what you’ve experienced or done that’s EARNED you that understanding.

Anyone can write an essay about how a great person puts the needs of others before their own (or insert other platitude here). Ultimately, here, they’re asking about YOU. Not necessarily ‘what have you done that makes YOU a great person’? But, which experiences or mentors have shaped your beliefs about what makes a person great? If you don’t have a strong, specific answer that points back to YOU and the values you’ll bring to the Dartmouth community—not to worry—you’ve got plenty of prompts to choose from!

Please elaborate on any special talents or skills you would like to highlight. (250 words)

This is a good example of where the SPARC™ Method is valuable. Absent a holistic view of your application ‘narrative,’ it is tempting to zoom in on special talents or skills you may have that could very well be impressive on their own, but fail to add overall value to your candidacy. How? At worst, a de-contextualized skill may confuse the Adcom in a way that actually damages your application argument. If the rest of your application is predominantly about wins in the artistic realm, and aspiration about demilitarizing the globe and so on, and here you talk about unusually high marksmanship skills with a rifle, without a way to reconcile those two (which is of course possible) might collapse the whole argument and puncture your credibility, seriousness, etc. Part of the challenge here is to provide insight into a talent or skill that helps to enhance the sense of the overall diamond, of which this may be but one facet.

Here are a few additional questions to ponder, before you commit pen to paper (I know, I know, ‘What is a pen?’)––interestingly, this will also serve as a great way to approach your first draft:

• Let’s start easy: What’s the skill or talent? (More than one if relevant!) Walk us through what it is such that we can picture it, see it in action, understand how your version here is indeed more advanced that a typical person, etc. We just need to ‘get it.’ (75 words)
• Assuming you have more than just one skill or talent, why did you choose to tell us about this one? What about it has meaning for you? (75 words)
• Follow up to that: how will learning about this advance our sense of you who are? Go back to before we knew about this. We had an impression of you, based on all the other application elements. We had a full picture, more or less. In what way does learning about this skill/talent enhance or alter that picture? (75-100 words)

Briefly (approximately one-half page, single-spaced) discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been the most involved.

Roughly, this is 500 words. A nice, meaty opportunity to do some solid damage!

Challenge 1 - Identifying the activity.

What we like about this question is that it cuts out the opportunity for fluff and pardon our French but… ‘bs.’ You can talk a big game about a thing that is significant to you because it sounds amazing, paints you in an amazing light, but if you’ve committed only 2% of your time on it compared to everything else you chose to commit your time to, it’s disingenuous and empty, etc. Here, Georgetown is focusing you on the piece of that pie chart that represents your ‘greatest/highest (‘most’) involvement’ as measured by some weighted combination of time and energy. They’re asking about things you didn’t need to do, but chose to. Why that thing? The best response here is one that reveals a genuine attraction toward a subject, interest area, etc. If your reasons for spending the majority of your time have more to do with fulfilling someone else’s idea for what’s in your best interest, it is likely to be exposed here––hard to manufacture a genuine interest in something you don’t have a genuine interest in. 

So, if you have a choice of options, most definitely choose the one you feel the highest gravitational pull toward. Be real about it, it will help your cause.

Challenge 2 - Did you choose it? Or did it choose you?

Sometimes the calling is something you’re incredibly ‘aware’ of. Things you chose intentionally, as the result of careful thought, something you reasoned, and decided (on an intellectual level) that this was a thing you felt strongly about, were attracted to, wanted to pursue, needed to explore, wanted to commit to, etc. Other times, your reasons for getting involved in a thing might not have started with any conscious aim, but developed once you gained exposure, and the magnetic pull was ‘created’ without your permission in a sense. See if you can determine which of those two it is in your case.

If you chose it intentionally, can you explain to us why of other ‘nearby’ options, you chose this activity/subject specifically? What was that decision like? Can you travel back to the moment where you had a decision to make about how to spend your time during the summer or at school on some kind of activity, and you deliberated (perhaps not for long) and chose what you chose? Take us through that dialogue so we might understand what the motivating factors were. And why. Oftentimes choosing to do one thing can be understood best by recognizing that you therefore chose ‘not’ those other options. Why Choice A over B-Z?

If you discovered your interest ‘by accident’ this is a touch easier, in the sense that you can explain your attraction through the non-believer to believer evolution. You went from having either no or middling interest in Activity/Thing A, but then it turned into far more than middling interest. Explain that journey, and how your intensity level rose, and why you think that is. What was this activity delivering that you wanted more of?

Challenge 3 - What clue might this give us about where you might end up in 30 years?

If we were to predict what you’ll end up doing in 30 years, and why, and someone with a time travel machine checks out our story, finds that we are correct, comes back and says to us … by God, you were mostly correct. How’d you get so much of that prediction so right? We might point to something in this essay response and say that we could see the makings of X in the way this student wrote about topic Y. Can you explain your attraction to this activity at a ‘root’ level, in a way that can potentially be applied to many other things? For example, you have aptitude in math, you win a bunch of math competitions, etc. When you really dig deep though, you might arrive at the conclusion that you like solving problems. Solving problems is a much more ‘root-level’ insight about what it is you love compared to ‘I love mathematics.’ ‘I love mathematics’ has a narrower set of applications than ‘I love solving problems.’ Take your essay to the next level by identifying that ‘root’ level attraction. And try to imagine a future where you might apply this, not just to the activity you’re interested in now, but maybe something totally different (in 30 years) that is still motivated by the same power source.

Okay, let’s put that together:

1. Set the stage. Take us back to when you initially began participating in this activity. Remember, this could be because you chose it very intentionally, or the attraction part came later. Either way, take us back to that starting point and give us a sense for how it began. (50-75 words)
2. Explain the intention behind the choice (Option 1) or Explain how the attraction developed (Option 2). If Option 1, explain what led you to that attraction to begin with. Take us through that journey. If Option 2, this will also be a journey, but with a different starting point and through line––this version will be more about how you went from not really having an attraction to developing one. Take us through the what and how of all that. (100 words)
3. Now go deep on the activity itself, and your experiences inside it. Table is set, now let’s get into the specifics of what it’s like, what you do, what challenges you face, why you have so much fulfillment, or fun, or whatever you get out of it. Make it visceral, take us into the action, make it so that we can picture it and feel it alongside you. (100-125 words)
4. Why do you like it so much? If the previous section is ‘What is it like?’ then this section is ‘So why do you like it so much?’ Alternatively, ‘Why does this hold so much meaning or value for you?’ Try to explain it however it makes sense to you. If you get stuck, you can always remember that you had so many ways to spend your time, and you ended up returning back to this one again and again. Why? (75-100 words)
5. Finally, what’s happening at the root level? This is the hard part, but the most impactful exercise. See if you can reason out what is happening at the root level, such that if you were to change your circumstances completely, you could still find a way to scratch that itch because the ‘root level’ insight has infinite opportunities. (75-100 words)

That’ll land you an incredibly strong first draft. From there it can get reworked a million different ways and come out with a completely different structure, but for a first draft, that’ll put you on the right course.

All Applicants: As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief personal or creative essay which you feel best describes you and reflects on your personal background and individual experiences, skills, and talents.

Roughly, page-long, doesn’t mean it needs to be long for long’s sake, but figure anywhere from 600-1000 words. That’s a wide range, and is meant to suggest that longer isn’t automatically better.

While it’s open-ended in the sense that they’re inviting either a personal or ‘creative’ approach, still, they seem to want to guard against a piece you might have written in a creative writing assignment that is completely absent any engagement with what you’re all about, who you are, where you come from, what makes you tick, what differentiates you, etc. Remember, while a creative writing essay can reveal certain aspects about you, even if the subject is something entirely ‘else,’ this is the one shot you get (and that Georgetown gets) at learning something about you as an individual that may advance their level of desire to admit you to their program. That decision is a gamble that you’re going to eventually do great things, and to get to that level of confidence here, they need to see evidence of future greatness. To fail to give Georgetown that glimpse, is to miss this opportunity. So one stress test you can apply is this: can a reader, after reading this essay, arrive at the conclusion “This kid is going to be successful whatever they end up pursuing in life”? If not, you may have some additional soul searching to do, possible new angles to consider. We need to be able to have our confidence level ‘rise’ after reading this essay.

Unlike a business school essay, where you would need to make that case clearly, and effectively, on the page, here you can be more subtle. This isn’t a job interview, and you’re not expected to have a clear plan for future success at age ~17. So, what you need to do is develop an understanding of why you think you’re more likely to be successful than your nearest competitors, and then somehow make that evident, using whatever topic, theme, story or essay modality is available to you.

Take a look at our essay analyses for Common App Prompts (Prompt 1 may be the closest, but best to scan all six prompts) and then come back. Also take a look at our discussion around Essay Modalities and then come back.

Now that you have a sense of not just the ‘substance’ aspect (theme, key points to hit) but also the ‘execution style’ (essay ‘genre’ that best serves your individual application argument), you can put together a first draft that’ll get you as much mileage as possible. For something as open-ended as this, the organizational approach is near infinite. So instead of an outline, we’ll just recap the key points to consider and then recommend the ‘Let the Pen Fly’ approach to your first drafts.

Key Themes (not necessarily in this order)

• When you imagine students who are in your most likely competitive pool, does this essay reveal something about you that’s differentiated
• Are those differentiating features different for different sake, or are they meaningful and exciting somehow?
• Are we learning something about you that gives us confidence that you’ll be successful later in life?
• Would someone who knows you well learn something new about you? (This is a stress test on how reflective are you being, and are we really getting a glimpse into ‘the interior’?)

If you’re applying to schools that do the Common App, there’s a chance your draft there might be useful as a starting point, but we wouldn’t recommend simply copying and pasting. There is work to be done to make sure that we’re really engaging the spirit of Georgetown’s prompt to the fullest.

Depending on which school you’re applying to, you’ll need to sell each school on the reasons you’re applying to that particular field of interest. Let’s go through each of the prompts for each program.:

Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences: Founded in 1789, the Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences is committed to the Jesuit traditions of an integrated education and of productive research in the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. Describe your interest in studying in the College of Arts & Sciences. (Applicants interested in the sciences, mathematics, or languages are encouraged to make specific reference to their choice of major.)

Georgetown makes a point to reference Jesuit traditions and highlights an approach to education that’s ‘integrated’ as well as research that’s ‘productive.’ It almost feels too obvious to state that you might have an interest in an education that is not narrowly focused and devoid of variety, or that you dislike research that is unproductive. However, this is a tell. Georgetown is famously a touch more traditional as compared to other schools in its weight class. And it’s leaning into this reputation. They are subtly (or perhaps not so subtly) suggesting that you *can* approach the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, or fine arts in a way that isn’t productive. Now, how do they define ‘productive’? It doesn’t matter. The important take home is that this is an opportunity to indicate that *you* have a sense of what that difference is, and that you prefer and are motivated by the ‘productive’ kind of approach. You won’t need to say in such plain terms, but you’ll want to make a coherent argument for why your interests have some kind of practical or useful application. To see that you’re thinking things in grounded terms that consider the real world will demonstrate a kind of ‘fit’ that is crucial for a Georgetown application.

As you interrogate the sources of your interest in an area, or the potential future impact you might make, it is often useful to think of a real world problem you’d like to solve, or an opportunity you’d like to take advantage of. And by learning and researching in your stated areas, you have an inkling of how you might add value in this area, eventually. Even if much of this thinking doesn’t end up making it on the page ultimately, it can be a useful thought exercise to divine insights that you will want to focus on.

Here are some questions you’ll want to think through as you prepare for your first draft:

• What are you thinking about studying, generally?
• How might studying this advance you toward some future, practical issue/goal?
• If you imagine a narrow, simplified, conventional approach to studying this, what would an ‘integrated’ approach look like?
• What is the value add of the integrated approach?
• Can you connect the ‘value add’ piece of the integrated approach to being in a better position to attack the issues/goals you laid out in Bullet #2?
• Can you make a case for why Georgetown’s disposition toward pragmatism and practicality aligns better with your learning style than other universities?

If you can build a first draft around those concepts (order/organization initially won’t matter that much), you will have hit on the key points for an excellent starting point.

School of Nursing: Georgetown University’s School of Nursing is committed to the formation of ethical, empathetic, and transformational nursing leaders. Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying Nursing at Georgetown University.

On the one hand, it would be surprising for a program expressing a commitment to the formation of unethical, apathetic, and non-transformational nursing leaders, right? So why mention these other traits, if every school would also embrace these same ideas? Well, it’s harder to make a great case here than it may sound, it’s not surprising that it’s an effective question to ask to separate the wheat from the chaff.

There are two pieces here. 

Piece 1 - The influences that led you to wanting to study nursing at Georgetown.

As with all Examine this faithfully. Write it plainly. Here are some traps to avoid (remember: we’ve read millions of essays of this nature):

• Try not to be impressed with yourself, or this particular ‘origin story’ on the grounds that it’s unique, even if for you it’s moving, transformational etc. If you make subtle hints that *we* the readers should find this as amazing as you, chances are, we’ll push back. Instead, if you don’t seem too aware of how ‘special’ this story is, but simply tell it plainly, and focus on the impact it had on you, we will feel the gravity of it automatically.
• Try not to suggest that your intentions in the field of nursing are unique. Instead, sell us on the sincerity of those intentions, and how dedicated you are to follow through. The more sober and focused you seem, the more likely you’ll appear to be one of Georgetown’s success stories.

Piece 2 - Connect those influences to the concepts of ethics, empathy, and transformation.

Don’t spent a ton of time addressing this, and even when you do, don’t be too on the nose. Instead, you’ll want to make some arguments and statements with those concepts in the back of your mind. See the difference? Rather than use the words ‘ethics’ or ‘empathy’ or ‘transformation,’ see if you can sell those concepts through practical and tangible concepts. As though, after hearing you talk about your ideas and plans, it is clear *that* you have engaged with and embody these ideas/values.

School of Health: Georgetown University’s School of Health was founded to advance the health and well-being of people locally, nationally, and globally through innovative research, the delivery of interdisciplinary education, and transformative engagement of communities. Describe the factors that influenced your interest in studying health care at Georgetown University, specifically addressing your intended related major: Global Health, Health Care Management & Policy, or Human Science.

Same general principles here as with the other blurbs (see above)!

Walsh School of Foreign Service: Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders with the foundational skills to address global issues. Describe your primary motivations for studying international affairs at Georgetown University and dedicating your undergraduate studies toward a future in global service.

Same general principles here as with the other blurbs (see above)!

McDonough School of Business: Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business provides graduates with essential global, ethical, analytical, financial, and diverse perspectives on the economies of our nation and the world. Describe your primary motivations for studying business at Georgetown University.

Same general principles here as with the other blurbs (see above)! 

For any of these essays, expect roughly 1-page. Doesn’t mean it needs to be long for long’s sake, but figure anywhere from 600-1000 words.

*Updated August 2024*

Brown's Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about any academic interests that excite you, and how you might pursue them at Brown. (200-250 words)

Understanding the ‘Open Curriculum’

What IS the Open Curriculum at Brown? Well, in a nutshell, it’s the opposite of the CORE CURRICULUM that you’ll find at other schools. Is it better or worse… that’s for others to debate. Brown is giving you a blank canvas. Sorta. There’s a common misconception that the Open Curriculum is literally open season on taking whatever you want, whenever you want, throughout your four years at Brown. Not so much. You will still have to declare a Major (they call it something else at Brown, usually “Concentration”), like anywhere else. And that Major (and Minor, if you do more than one thing) will require a long set of classes in order for you to graduate successfully.

So not really “open” in the literal sense. The true spirit of the Open Curriculum lies in the freedom afforded to every student to find their own way TOWARD their “area of focus.” Brown requires that you get focused by the end of your sophomore year. They just don’t give you many rules about what you have to do in those first two years. With the exception of Engineering majors, you are free to take courses in any area, whenever, however, etc. There’s also the ability to potentially create a curriculum of your own, but there’s a process for that, and not everyone’s idea gets approved.

There’s more to be said about the Open Curriculum, and you should do some reading on it, as well as chat with Brown alums (no better way than that) and get THEIR take on the reality. The key for our purposes though is that it’s kind of Brown’s “thing.” Something they’re famous for, even if other schools have similarly lax restrictions on what courses you can take.

And here’s the important part: it’s all about self-authorship. Brown doesn’t just embrace the notion that you should be in full control over channeling your skills and talents toward something meaningful, but that the folks who naturally tune into the frequency of their own compass, rather than adapting themselves to someone else’s prescription of what you should pursue… are the kinds of folks Brown University wants to ‘gamble on’ as they compete with other schools hoping to produce successful, productive contributors to society. Seems a subtle distinction, but there’s an important insight here: that trait (self-authoring, making one’s own way, blazing trails, disrupting, challenging, forging, etc.) is *the* trait Brown University is interested not just in cultivating, but sourcing from the get go.

Tying this all up in a bow: if you can demonstrate in your essays that you have an established pattern of being proactive, challenging the status quo, making the most of opportunities available to you, creating opportunities where they may not be readily available… you will instantly become appealing in Brown’s eyes as someone who will not just ‘be a good fit for Brown’s ethos’ but, indirectly, signal to Brown that you have the stuff they *they* believe will be a harbinger of future success. (That’s the ‘what’s in it for them’ angle, which is crucial to understand.)

Now, to dissect the prompt itself.

Let’s take for rote *that* you have academic interests. It’s okay to be ‘interested’ in a subject, if even for purely practical reasons: “I am interested in Chemistry, even if there’s no obvious way in which anything I learn here will intersect in any way shape or form with what I eventually spend the rest of my days doing.” “I am interested in taking Mathematics even though I am not mathematically inclined, but I want to stretch, develop some well-roundedness, but I’m finding that despite my learning about sine and cosine, my opinion of triangles has not changed significantly.”

And thus, Brown wants to focus you on ‘interests’ … that ‘excite you.’ Out of all the subjects available to you, which ones stir something in you? Which ones turned you from a non-believer to a believer? Or from a casually interested person to an ‘omg, must learn everything about this subject tonight.’ Hold that thought for a second––let’s look at the second piece of the puzzle.

The ‘how might you pursue them at Brown’ is interesting. It is assumed that you’ll be able to pursue these interests at any college on planet Earth. In fact, let’s take it a step further. Imagine you get accepted to Brown, but also Stanford, and Harvard, and Princeton. While it is true that you would be able to pursue your academic interests at ANY of those fine institutions, and end up perfectly successful and fulfilled if you play your cards right… there may still be a chance that the version of you that passes through Brown––given the quirks of its curriculum, and Brown’s general culture, its specific offerings––confers a marginal benefit that is of particular interest to you. Try to locate what that might be. So, you imagine four scenarios:

1. Version 1 - Pursue your interests at Harvard.
2. Version 2 - Pursue your interests at Stanford.
3. Version 3 - Pursue your interests at Princeton.
4. Version 4 - Pursue your interests at *Brown*.

Why is Version 4 cooler? What is it about Brown that excites you even more? Why is the version of you that travels through Brown somehow better off, happier, more stimulated, better able to advance your interests and extract from your collegiate experience?

Okay, so now that you’ve gone through that thought exercise, let’s synthesize.

1. Start by explaining which academic interests either turned you from not being interested to being super interested, or took a middling interest and amplified it into something all-consuming! Why? Can you show us evidence of this interest playing out in real life? Make it so that we can picture it. Show us how your interest here goes to a different level from another person who is ‘very interested’ but not ‘ridiculously interested.’
2. Next, explain what you hope to do with this on ‘a’ college campus, and what types of opportunities you’re hoping to have that would enable you to really dig in, broaden your horizons, double-down, level up, etc.
3. Now explain that while most colleges will enable this desire well enough, there’s something particular to Brown that gives it an edge in enabling you even more/better. Be as specific as possible. Are there specific professors, or clubs, or opportunities that you’ve come to learn about that are unique to Brown that support your claim?

It always falls flat when students make it seem like Brown is ‘the only’ place that could possibly support their interest in XYZ. We know for a fact that it isn’t true. The stronger argument acknowledges that you can pursue this anywhere and everywhere (in fact, Brown wants you to make it clear that you don’t need Brown to help you with these interests, because you are determined, and as someone who is self-authoring their way, you’ll simply … find a way no matter what). But, that the opportunities that ARE readily available at Brown (including the freedom to carve up stuff with more flexibility than you might find elsewhere), that of all the options, this one has unusual appeal, and has a slight edge. Two crisp paragraphs for those three bullets, and you’ll end up with a killer first draft.

In the online Common Application Writing Supplement for those applying for Fall 2025 entry, please respond to both the Cornell University essay question and the essay prompt that corresponds to the undergraduate college or school to which you are applying.

Cornell University Essay Question:

We all contribute to, and are influenced by, the communities that are meaningful to us. Share how you’ve been shaped by one of the communities you belong to. Remember that this essay is about you and your lived experience. Define community in the way that is most meaningful to you. Some examples of community you might choose from are: family, school, shared interest, virtual, local, global, cultural. (350 word limit)

In the school-specific essays, you get to dig into why you think Cornell is the right school for you. Here, the school is wondering if YOU are the right fit for Cornell! Remember, while Cornell has a relatively large undergraduate (and grad) student body, Ithaca is a small college town in a pretty remote area of upstate New York. It is, as the t-shirts say, ‘gorges'—but it’s also really cold in the winter and decidedly not for the big-city-or-bust applicant. 

Cornell students are not just intelligent, they’re intellectually curious. And Cornell boasts some of the most diverse degree and course offerings of any top school. Any time you hear about an academic program that seems obscure (Enology? Hotel administration? Master beekeeping? Union leadership?) you can often safely assume Cornell has the biggest and best program in that obscure field. But this smart and curious student body also has a ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality. Freshmen and sophomores nearly all live on campus, creating a strong and lively community on campus. So in asking about how you live in community, Cornell trying to discern if you’re ready to jump in and be an active member of their community. 

Time for a writing exercise… make a list of all the communities you’ve been a part of in your life. Take them at their word when they say, ‘define community in the way that is most meaningful to you.’ DO flex this term so that you can get the meatiest, most meaningful example you can.

Now that you’ve made a list, pick one, two or three that really stand out to you in terms of how they’ve shaped you as a person. The best examples will be likely communities you’ve been a part of during high school (and possibly long before as well, but you want to keep it current). For each example, write ‘how it shaped me’ and ‘what I contributed’. 

Your strongest example will likely be a community for which all are true:

1. Your involvement caused some sort of growth of character
2. You gave back in a meaningful way, perhaps through some sort of leadership within the community, or maybe by paying it forward and passing on those learnings & resources in another subsequent context
3. There’s something unique or memorable about the group, or what you did as a group (e.g., most of your peers can probably tell a meaningful story about their covid pod in 2020… if you do choose an experience that’s shared by a lot of people, highlight any unique and salient aspects of your particular group or experience)

Once you’ve found your best example and you get to drafting, come back again and again to this key sentence from the prompt: ‘Remember that this essay is about you and your lived experience.’ They want to learn about what you’ve seen and done and how you’ve grown in life… this is not an opportunity to muse about the meaning of community. 

And never, ever undersell your the importance of your contribution or leadership within your community! Modesty works elsewhere in life; this is your moment to flex.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Required: By applying to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), you are also applying for direct entry into one of our 20+ majors. From here, you would be part of a community dedicated to purpose-driven science; working within your major and across disciplines to tackle the complex challenges of our time.

Why are you drawn to studying the major you have selected and specifically, why do you want to pursue this major at Cornell CALS? You should share how your current interests, related experiences, and/or goals influenced your choice. (500 word limit)

For this one, imagine getting accepted to Cornell, but in the WRONG COLLEGE. If you’re an Agriculture and Life Sciences person and end up in Hotel Administration, think through all the ways that would upset you to your core. “Wait, but if I’m in College X, I won’t be able to …” Won’t be able to WHAT? The first step is to capture whatever finishes that sentence.

Now, zoom out a bit to consider your life, and your background. What led to this trajectory? What experiences made you realize you DIDN’T like Field A, and preferred Field B instead? There are likely several experiences along the way. Don’t just include the obvious ones that we could have predicted. It’s neat to see a complete picture. Was there ever a time you dabbled in anything else? Have you truly HATED some stuff? What is it that really inspires you about Agriculture and Life Sciences? We want to see where the momentum comes from, and we want to believe that your commitment to this field of study is real and exciting.

One thing to remember. What if you get rejected from Cornell and this particular school, and, oh well, you end up getting into Harvard and Stanford instead? Will you not go because you have no ability to succeed at a “normal liberal arts school”? Of course not (we hope). The best way to mentally frame this question is to imagine multiple paths to a future ambition of yours. One of those might pass through Cornell, others will not. The question you need to really ask is… why does the version that passes through Cornell—and this particular college WITHIN Cornell—excite you in specific ways? Which experiences have led you to conclude that? See how that’s different from “this is my destiny and nothing else will work!”?

500 words is a lot of words. Most supplementals are in the 250-word range, so this is a proper essay. As such, you’ll want to develop your arguments well. Here’s an outline to get you going:

1. Establish a quick vision of where it’s all headed. What’s a VERSION of your ultimate vision? What inspires you? What kinds of things do you wanna be doing/achieving? Be quick, be straightforward, but give us a sense of your passion. [50 words]
2. Now take us through some highlights of your life so far that have played a significant role in steering you in that direction. Two or three examples should be good enough, but even one great one can suffice. It should be clear here not just WHAT intrigues you, but WHY (through these examples). [150 words, one to two paragraphs]
3. Explain briefly, what it is you hope to achieve in college, and then perhaps a few years out of college. And therefore what it is that would make for an ideal education IN GENERAL (forget Cornell, for now, just talk generally). What things in a college experience will bring out the BEST in you? [150 words]
4. Now, talk about specific aspects of Cornell and THIS SCHOOL IN PARTICULAR that tie to specific aspects of YOUR SKILL SET and AMBITIONS. Make it clear that THIS ENVIRONMENT might just deliver a better version of success for you than another program at another school. [150 words]

These are rough wording guidelines that’ll at least get you a serviceable first draft. From there, lots can happen (and WILL, in our experience). You’ll probably end up expanding the essay beyond the word limit, and then paring back down later – that’s a healthy part of the writing process.

Optional Short-Answer Responses:

The optional short-answer questions invite you to share additional information about your background, interests, and experiences as they relate to aspects of the Cornell CALS mission.

Optional Question #1: At Cornell CALS, we aim to leave the world better than we found it, so we seek out those who are passionate about serving the public good. Please elaborate on an experience where you were able to have a meaningful impact on people, a community, and/or an environment of importance to you. (100 word limit)

This question is officially optional, but we HIGHLY recommend providing an answer. The mission of CALS is not just science per se but science that can make the world a better place for the people and species that live on it. Demonstrate your passion for serving the public good through describing a time where you did just that. If your best example happens to be in the sciences/ag/climate space, cool; if not, don’t sacrifice a more impactful story in favor of a less impactful one that’s science-y. You’ve already demonstrated your commitment to/deep interest in your proposed field of study in a way that shows up on your activities list, transcript and essay above, so you can use this space to show your impact in other spheres, and perhaps tie it back to your drive to join CALS, if it's not too forced to do so. 

Optional Question #2: Given our agricultural history and commitment to educating the next generation of agriculturalists, please share if you have a background or interest in agriculture, regardless of your intended major. An "agricultural entity" for the purpose of this question is defined as cultivating soil, growing crops, and raising livestock (e.g., farm, ranch, greenhouse, vineyard, etc.)

Select all that apply:

• A primary source of income for my parent/guardian(s) comes from ownership of or employment by an agricultural entity.
• My extended family owns or operates an agricultural entity.
• I have experience working in an agricultural entity.
• I have interest in pursuing a career in an agricultural entity.

Please feel free to share additional details (optional). (100 word limit)

If this applies to you, seize the opportunity! CALS has an ag focus, and having some experience with an agricultural entity shows that you know what that work entails. You’ve got on more than just a romanticized picture of a farmer in a fresh flannel near a tractor with a piece of hay hanging out of your mouth on a crisp fall morning.

College of Architecture, Art, and Planning:

How do your interests directly connect with your intended major at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP)? Why architecture (B.Arch), art (BFA), or urban and regional studies (URS)? B. Arch applicants, please provide an example of how a creative project or passion sparks your motivation to pursue a 5-year professional degree program. BFA applicants may want to to consider how they could integrate a range of interests and available resources at Cornell into a coherent art practice. URS students may want to emphasize their enthusiasm and depth of interest in the study of urban and regional issues. (650 word limit)

[See above, and substitute in Architecture, Art, and Planning.] But also add in an argument about why the offerings at Cornell are likely to propel you forward somehow BETTER than another school that offers the same stuff. What makes this program unique, given your specific interest within the AAP umbrella?

Since AAP doesn’t have a separate question to discuss social impact and purpose, if you have a purpose / impact story that dovetails well with this essay, do include it in the ‘what it is you hope to achieve in college, and then perhaps a few years out of college’ piece, or right after.

College of Arts and Sciences:

At the College of Arts and Sciences, curiosity will be your guide. Discuss how your passion for learning is shaping your academic journey, and what areas of study or majors excite you and why. Your response should convey how your interests align with the College, and how you would take advantage of the opportunities and curriculum in Arts and Sciences. (650 word limit)

Same basic idea here as with the first two, except this addresses a broader crop of applicants, and there’s less of an expectation that candidates will come in with a clear idea of the exact career (or major) they ultimately want. “What interests you and why Cornell specifically?” The key here is to explain what fuels you, and what you need to succeed optimally. And then MAP that to SPECIFIC aspects of Cornell to demonstrate that the combination of you + Cornell ultimately leads to a better result than you + Another School.

Cornell Jed E. Brooks School of Public Policy:

Why are you drawn to studying public policy? Drawing on your experiences, tell us about why you are interested in your chosen major and how attending the Brooks School will help you achieve your life goals. (650 word limit)

Follow the prompt for the CALS essay above, including an impact angle (desire to work for the public good, in some way). As in the CALS and AAP applications, you will want to highlight SPECIFIC experiences and goals that make THIS the right school WITHIN Cornell for you. You’re applying directly to a major, so you’ll want to convince them through credible evidence (activities you’ve done, courses you’ve taken, etc.) that you really want to go to THIS school—rather than going in through Arts & Sciences and majoring in Government—in order to fulfill your goals. 

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business:

What kind of a business student are you? Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should convey how your interests align with the school to which you are applying within the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management or the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration). (650 word limit)

Same basic idea here as with the others, except you now have to grapple with this relatively new program and demonstrate that you’ve researched it thoroughly. Here’s one cool way to go about it: Whatever your business/econ goals are, imagine SUCCEEDING at them AT A DIFFERENT SCHOOL (pick a school, any school). Spoiler Alert: You’ll be able to succeed (we hope) at many schools OTHER than Cornell. (Right?)

Cool, now imagine one more version of success, this time, the one that passes THROUGH this program at Cornell. What’s different about THIS version of success for you? Why? What is it about this program, and YOUR GOALS SPECIFICALLY, that makes the collision of YOU + THIS PROGRAM a particularly dangerous combination? 

For the Dyson School, if you can’t make a compelling argument here for why THIS combo is necessarily better than You + UPenn (Wharton) or You + (any other Ivy), it’s not gonna land. There’s gotta be a compelling set of arguments. Find em. Approaching it THIS way is a great way to get unstuck if you’re having trouble developing momentum.

For the Nolan School, there needs to be some magnetic force between you and this specific college at Cornell. Walk us through the events and experiences that led to your decision to pursue this field. Then, convince us that among all the folks out there who share equally compelling reasons to pursue hospitality degrees, YOU deserve a seat in particular. What about YOU should convince the gatekeeper that your future is brighter and more impactful in this arena than someone else?

College of Engineering:

Instructions: All engineering applicants are required to write two long essays and four short essays.

Long Essay Responses (200 word limit)

Question 1: Fundamentally, engineering is the application of math, science, and technology to solve complex problems. Why do you want to study engineering?

This is your opportunity to defy the stereotype that engineering students have chosen that course of study at their parents’ behest, or just because they believe it equals success. SHOW them your passion for the field… don’t just rehash your transcript and activities list. 

Sketch out where it’s all headed. What’s one version of your ultimate life/career? What really inspires you? What kinds of things do you want to achieve within engineering? What do you love about the process? You can pull in any experiences that have played an important role in steering you in that direction. Don’t just tell us WHAT you love about engineering, but also WHY. 

Question 2: Why do you think you would love to study at Cornell Engineering?

Cornell Engineering is pretty unique: they’re the largest top engineering program, with 14 majors and 21 minors. You don’t need to answer this question as if you know EXACTLY which courses you’re going to take each semester, but you DO need to convince them that you’re SPECIFICALLY interested in THEIR engineering program, beyond just its ranking. Think collaboration, student-led projects, the ability to go deep on a very broad range on subjects within engineering, proximity of other top programs, etc. We’ll say it once again… be specific!

Short Answer Responses (100 word limit)

The key to these short answers is that they must be complementary, not redundant with one another or with your transcript or activities list. The cool thing about this short answer format is that you can show different sides of yourself without needing to tie them all together with one big bow. 

Before you decide on how to answer each question specifically, make a list of things that are really cool, great or impressive about you that HAVEN’T been exhausted elsewhere in your application: qualities of your character, activities, passions, challenges you’ve gone through, etc. Some of these miscellaneous, unallocated 'greatest hits’ stories might find their way into your short answers. 

Question 1: What brings you joy?

This is not a trick question! Show them a new side of yourself. Make a list of all the things that really bring you joy. Now review them and see which ones include the following: (1) working closely with others – especially others who are different from you, (2) exploration and curiosity, and (3) a novelty/salience/wow factor. It doesn’t have to have all three, but try to pick something that at least satisfies either #1 or #2. Oh, and it should actually, literally bring you joy!

Question 2: What do you believe you will contribute to the Cornell Engineering community beyond what you've already detailed in your application? What unique voice will you bring?

Your general Cornell essay was about community, so find a NEW angle on community here. Think about times you’ve worked on a team… what was your superpower? The brainstormer? The excellent listener and synthesizer? The person who breaks the ice finds similarities across differences? You only have 100 words, use them to give the admissions committee a new, clear and concise angle on who you are when in relationship to teammates. 

Question 3: What is one activity, club, team, organization, work/volunteer experience or family responsibility that is especially meaningful to you? Please briefly tell us about its significance for you.

Don’t mistake this question for, ‘tell us again about the most impressive thing you’ve done’. This is about personal significance. Make a list of the most meaningful involvements in your life. Whittle the list down by focusing on longer commitments (nothing you started this year) where you’ve really invested yourself. Of those, pick the one that’s most meaningful to you, and follow the prompt to tell them about its significance for you. 

Question 4: What is one award you have received or achievement you have attained that has meant the most to you? Please briefly describe its importance to you. 

Once again, pay attention to the language here: they want to hear about the achievement that has meant the most to you, and they want to understand its importance to you. Make a list of achievements or awards that you haven’t already exhausted elsewhere in the application – totally fine if something is in your activities list, but if you’ve written about it in an essay, try to find new examples that highlight your values, your tenacity, your emotional intelligence in a new way). Again, this is not a standalone ‘tell me your greatest achievement’ question – it’s an opportunity to add NEW information about yourself in the context of a WHOLE application. If you want to touch on a big 'win' but there's something with greater personal significance, you could say, 'you might think I'd answer X, but it's actually Y, because of personal significance [ABC]!'

College of Human Ecology:

How has your decision to apply to the College of Human Ecology (CHE) been shaped and informed by your related experiences? How will what you learn through CHE and your chosen major impact your goals and plans for the future? Your response should demonstrate how your interests and aspirations align with CHE’s programs and mission. (Refer to our essay application tips before you begin.) (650 word limit)

Same general idea as the others. Walk us through your specific inspiration for this field, and why pursuing a college at Cornell that focuses on this is preferable to a broader education framework elsewhere. Given that the departments within this college are quite broad, ensure that you’re digging deep and getting detailed about your fit for the specific program you’re applying to. Refer to CHE's first-year applicant tips here.

School of Industrial and Labor Relations:

Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the ILR School. (650 word limit)

Same general idea as the others. Walk us through your specific inspiration for this field, and why pursuing a college at Cornell that focuses on this is preferable to a broader education framework elsewhere. ILR is really the top program on labor and employment, but that status can’t be your ‘why’ – the admissions committee needs to know that YOU KNOW why you’re committing to this field of study.

Learn more and explore each step of Cornell’s undergraduate application process here.

*Updated August 2024*

Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)

To get to something substantive here, it’s crucial to tackle the second part first. Otherwise, you’ll invariably end up with a ‘contribution to Brown’ theory that will seem contrived, and most likely, that’ll be because it is. Instead, let’s do the opposite of what Maria Von Trapp suggests and start at the very end…

What contributions will you make to the Brown community?

Think less about what you plan to do, and more about the impact of or value added by the things you plan to do. If Brown were a bland dish (say for example something you might find in England, zing!), and you were a pinch of salt, you might measure the ‘value add’ of salt as helping the dish go from bland to vibrant, or flat to tasty, etc. Or, suppose Brown were a bland dish from a spiciness index (say for example something you might find in Persian food, double zing!), and you added thai green chiles. You might measure the ‘value add’ of the chile as making the dish go from not ‘hot’ to ‘hot.’ You get the idea, there’s impact, and it doesn’t need to be ‘good’ it just needs to be palpable somehow.

Brown is a ‘community’ that has nearly infinite dimensions that ‘can be contributed to…’ If you’re a good a cappella singer, say a solid alto, and you plan to make your contribution to one of Brown’s a cappella groups, on the one hand, you’re contributing, kinda. On the other hand, there is no shortage of a cappella singers at Brown, and won’t be for a while. So unless you bring something extra special, this wouldn’t be a great ‘value add’ prospect. What else might you bring forward that’s worth noting? Interesting somehow? New, different, unusual, exceptional? The next question to ask (or perhaps you might do this first to help divine the ‘contribution list’ to begin with) is: What will that ‘value add’ be?

1. Will it teach others a new thing?
2. Will it expose others to a new perspective?
3. Will it be a familiar perspective, but something about you makes it unusual?
4. Will it bring folks out of the shadows?
5. Will it advance a field of study, even if incrementally but meaningfully?
6. Will it provoke others in a way they haven’t been provoked before?

This is a good starting list to begin ideating on what your contribution might be and how one might ‘measure it’ such that you can now articulate the value. This is not easy, gang. But, this is what the folks who get into Brown are able to do really really well, so that’s your competitive bar! But okay, once you’re good here, now it’s time to return to ‘Part 1’ of the prompt:

What aspect of your upbringing/background has inspired or challenged you?

This is an interesting pickle because in life, there are sometimes forces that influence us without our knowing. And to be aware of these can sometimes threaten to kill the beauty of it. It can take something beautiful, and by naming it, reduce it to something that feels somehow smaller, corporeal, ‘explicable.’ This is another reason we recommend starting with Part 2, because it gives you the ability to not be so intellectual about some of the winds of nature that have shaped you, in case there are some that you didn’t realize shaped you, until exercises like there. So now that you have an idea of how you’ll be contributing something of value, the next question to consider is … why is it not likely that others entering the next Brown class will be able to contribute that thing, in exactly the same way? What is it about your past, your influences, your circumstances that makes it impossible for someone else to replicate your contribution examples?

Locate the key sources. Were you bullied? Were you super rich? The opposite of rich? Any interesting sibling/family dynamics? Any unusual world events pivotal to your youth in a way that affected you very tangibly? Were you popular from day one, and did that ever change one day? Did you grow up scrawny but then make it your mission to make Varsity one day?

The dimensions are endless concerning things that might have had an ‘influencing/shaping’ effect on you. As you continue digging to deeper layer here, the next and final layer is to understand this shaping factor through the prism of how it inspired or challenged you in some way. What Brown is getting at here is some kind of insight into how you respond to adversity or twists in circumstance, or how propulsive you can be when inspired in the right way. It shouldn’t be that difficult a leap, the inspired by or challenged by ‘frame’ for this should be workable with whatever the previous exercise gets you to.

Putting it all together. Remember, 200-250 words is two paragraphs, very tight. This is why you’ll spend 85% of your time here ‘figuring out the soul of what you’re going to write about’ and 15% actually writing it. The writing of it will be easy once you nail the core concepts (the hard part):

1. Start with your contribution ideas. Explain what it is you’re going to bring to the table, and do this quickly, zero fat. Now articulate what the value add is, how will the Brown community be affected by this contribution? We need to see, feel, understand this as something only you could contribute. (100 words)
2. Next, using that as a segue, explain *why* only you could contribute this, given the history of ‘how you were made.’ Meaning, trace that uniqueness to your influencing factor story, and how it inspired/challenged you, and developed you into the person who will make that contribution, in that particular way. (100-150 words)

The opposite of easy. But doable, and essential, if you want to end up with a quality statement here.

Essay 1: Change: _________ it

(350 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)

In today’s global business environment, the only constant is change. Using NYU Stern’s brand call to action, we want to know how you view change. Change: _____ it. Fill in the blank with a word of your choice. Why does this word resonate with you? How will you embrace your own personal tagline while at Stern? Examples:

Change: Dare it.
Change: Dream it.
Change: Drive it.
Change: Empower it.
Change: Manifest it.
Change: [Any word of your choice] it.

Essay 2: Personal Expression (a.k.a. "Pick Six")

Introduce yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images and corresponding captions. The Pick Six is a way to share more about the qualities you will bring to the Stern community, beyond your professional and academic achievements. Your uploaded PDF should contain all of the following elements:

• A brief introduction or overview of your "Pick Six" (no more than 3 sentences).
• Six images that help illustrate your interests, values, motivations, perspective and/or personality.
• A one-sentence caption for each of the six images that helps explain why they were selected and are significant to you.

Note: Your visuals may include photos, infographics, drawings, or any other images. Your document must be uploaded as a single PDF. The essay cannot be sent in physical form or be linked to a website.

It’s three sentences to tee the whole thing up and then a single sentence for each picture to help explain and bring them to life. Let’s figure out what they’re looking for here.

“Describe yourself.” To succeed at this exercise, we should be able to GLANCE at your six images (without ANY accompanying words) and be able to make some accurate predictions about who you are as a person. The closer that viewer’s “guess” is to what you’re actually like in real life, the better the execution. In fact, imagine that’s the challenge in itself. An adcom member reviews your six pictures and then says, “Okay, when I meet this person they’re going come across THIS way; they’ll be the kind of person who in THIS situation or would make THAT choice; it’s the kind of person who probably has THIS kind of story; if he were among the Game of Thrones cast, he’d be the ABC character” ... Then when you meet, the Adcom member says “Wow, they're exactly as I imagined.” All that means is that whatever you communicated in those six picks was unbelievably efficient and effective in conveying something about who you are, and what you’re all about.

What stuff are we conveying then? It includes hints of your:

• Personality (how do you engage with the people and communities around you? What kind of character do you play in your different roles in life?)
• Character (show ‘em what your EQ and values look like!)
• Quirks (any cool and unusual items from your ‘interests/skills’ bucket at the bottom of your resume? Ones that show commitment and are also great icebreakers at parties? Razzle dazzle ‘em here… give them something salient to remember you by!)

Everything else BEYOND that? Is gravy. If you give us other stuff but neglect those things, then you’ve probably shanked it. This is not your resume. This is not a 6-page PowerPoint of your “Billion-Dollar Idea.” It’s six images that allow us to CAST you in the perfect movie role “because we understand who you are so well from the pictures.”

One quick word about drawings and infographics: don’t pack so much stuff INTO a single image that it defeats the point of the exercise. The whole point is to try to reduce you to your essence through an ECONOMY of expression. Otherwise, you could write an essay in really small font, take a picture of that essay, and include it here. See how that’s missing the point? It would be like watching a movie where it was just a continuous scroll of the screenplay, rather than a picturization OF the screenplay.

Embrace the medium here folks. Understand the intention behind limiting it to (A) images, and (B) only six of them, total. It’s about high yield. That’s where the creativity comes into play. Each image should set you apart in some way: if you want to include a photo of yourself with your spouse and child, cool! Choose which photo of you and your family will convey not only that you have a family you care about (which is great, but not memorable on its own), but also something additional about your character, personality or quirks. 

What series of six images SUM to complete the most complete (and compelling) HINT about who you are? They don’t all need to interconnect on an individual level. Meaning, if Picture #1 is a photograph you once took of a SCENE IN NATURE that you really love, it doesn’t mean that Pictures #2–6 all need to conform to that general rule. The key is that they need to “sum” to something coherent. Even if the conclusion is that you’re a completely chaotic and random person, it’s possible for your six pictures to tell THAT story. Whatever it is, it needs to “work” though. If multiple people walk away with multiple impressions, chances are, it is weak. There are no points for the “everyone’s opinion is equally valid” nature of admiring abstract art. If anything, it’s the exact opposite challenge here. Your task is to make it so that multiple people are forced toward a very similar conclusion about who and what you are. Now, it’s possible that some may LIKE what that is, and others may not... the key is that they can at least all agree on what it IS.

Lots of ways to approach this so we’re just going to give you a taste of a few, but truly, there are many many many solid ways to go about it:

[1] A narrative. If you want to tell us about an evolution of sorts that shows us who/what you are TODAY compared to who/what you were “six iterations” ago, that could be cool. Six shades of YOU, where Slide 1 is You.0, then Slide 2 is You.1, etc. The idea here is that we learn something about you through the CHANGES over time. And the images don’t have to be of YOU, per se. It’s possible we can learn something about you through the evolution of your hobbies, or some other means. Lots of room for creativity here.

[2] Or, it can be a recipe for how to create “you.” Slide 1 is ingredient #1. (Imagine the possibilities, they are endless for what could go here.)

[3] You are what you eat. Six slides of foods that somehow represent every aspect of who you are: Slide 1 – Thai Green Chile Peppers (fresh, hot, unafraid to be scalding when need be). Slide 2 – XXXXX ?

The possibilities really are endless. It could be a hand-drawn comic strip that stitches together a simple story that tells us everything we need to know about who you are through a comical tale. It could be six things you’d spend money to acquire if you won the lottery. See how it’s endless? The trick is, with ANY of these ideas, it needs to convey something very clear about who you are, such that we could make some predictions about you based on those six images (and the accompanying theme/captions).

There’s not really a “wrong” way to approach this, other than the one which looks like a glorified resume, or an attempt to impress us somehow. It says more about your self-confidence, in fact, if there’s a conspicuous LACK of that instinct...

Additional Information (Optional) Essay

Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, further explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake the GMAT, GRE, IELTS or TOEFL or any other relevant information. (250 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)

Lots of room here to spill something VITAL that hasn’t been captured anywhere else. Bring the lumber! What assets of yours are needle-movers in your candidacy, those that you feel haven’t had a chance to LEAP off the page anywhere else in your application? Whatever the biggest item is, drop it here.

Maybe it’s a case you need to make about how COMPETENT your quant skills are despite what your test scores (or background) suggest. Maybe it’s a leadership story that's best served here so as to allow your creative side to come alive in the “pick six” essay. Maybe it’s a walk-through of a compelling backup plan you’ve formulated in case your main plan hits a snag. Depending on the quality of any of these, it may deserve some airtime here. Not all will, by the way. Just because this space is open, doesn’t mean you absolutely MUST fill it, in case the thing you fill it with doesn’t actually advance your case somehow. Just be mindful of that.

If there are any obvious red flags in your application from an adcom's point of view (arrest record, low undergrad GPA, or something else that might raise concern on their end), you should use this opportunity to show them that, not only do they not need to worry about this thing, but you turned a liability/weakness into an opportunity: you learned from it, alchemized it, and now that past experience is a key aspect of your superpowers.

We can't overstate this: if the adcoms will find out about from your transcript, background check, employment verification, etc., get out in front of it and take this opportunity to shape the narrative.

Required Essay - What is your sense of Duke as a university and a community, and why do you consider it a good match for you? If there’s something in particular about our offerings that attracts you, feel free to share that as well. (250 word limit)

250 words isn’t a lot. Two reasonable length paragraphs, generally. In that space, we need to say something substantive. And fast. Let’s break it down.

Here’s the amateur way of looking at this question:

“I’m going to show off how much I know about Duke based on research, any immersive, next-level engagement with current/former students, proactive meetings with faculty, school visits, attending classes, whatever else. When Duke sees how much effort I’ve put into learning about Duke, they’ll see how serious my claim is that Duke is the place for me. I’ll explain what I’m looking for in an ideal school, and voila!” Congrats! This is what roughly 94% of students will do. And you, and they, will find your essay in the rejection pile.

Let’s do something cooler.

To answer this question, you need to play out a thought experiment. You need to first come to terms with a very simple idea: you can attend a college other than Duke (some colleges that are even considered ‘better’ institutions by several measures), and do okay in life. With us so far? Here’s the deal. Let’s imagine some schools that are in the same ballpark as Duke: Brown, UPenn, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern. Let’s even include some of those heavy hitters: Yale, Harvard, Stanford, etc. Let’s play out a scenario where you apply to all those schools, and get accepted to every single one. Now, make like Dr. Strange and embrace the multiverse, hard. Imagine different versions of you attending every single one of those schools. At each institution, you’re going to meet exciting new people, encounter some incredible professors that ‘you wouldn’t have had at another institution’ (cancels out), and when you graduate, if you’re focused, have a plan, and hit the job market process thoughtfully, you’re going to have a more or less equal ‘level’ of opportunity. Sure, there may be some minor differences based on the geographies, networks you tap into, yada yada, but by and large, your ‘market value’ will be roughly (roughly) the same. With us still?

Now. Here’s the key. By passing through Duke, you believe you’re gonna end up … better off somehow. More successful? Happier? More energized? Equipped with more skills? The precise answer for you will be different from someone else’s. And it comes down to having a keen awareness of what it is you believe a school needs to be, and needs to have, in order to bring out the very best in you. We need to make two essential arguments to crush this essay:

Argument #1

First, you need to establish what kind of environment brings out the best in you, and show us what it is about you that makes this true. Think about when you’ve been most successful in your life so far, or happiest, or most… optimal. Explain the features of (1) the environment you were in and how they interacted with (2) a specific feature of yours that led to the desired outcome. Dig deep, and be as specific as you possibly can. To succeed at this challenge is for us to have a sense of what environment you might interact with, to extract the most value.

Argument #2

Now––and here’s where it gets tricky––you need to provide evidence that while several schools have “A” versions of this thing (or these things, if more than one), that Duke somehow scores an “A+.” So, you’re not going to suggest that “if you went to Harvard instead of Duke, you’d fail at the game of life.” That’s not a serious claim. Instead, you’re going to suggest that sure, you can go to Harvard and do perfectly well. Great, even. But, that by going to Duke instead, given A B and C features of Duke, this ‘path-through-Duke’ outcome is somehow a shade more preferable. Sell us on the what, and why.

Sound easy? It is not! But these are the two arguments you need to think through carefully. And if you can devote roughly equal time to both, you will end up with a VERY solid first draft.

*Updated September 2024*

Essay 1

Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge. (We encourage you to share this note with that person, if possible, and reflect on the experience!) (150-200 words, only required for first-year applicants)

Lots happening here. The fact that UPenn suggests that if possible, you ought to share this note with the human subject of your Thank You note, reveals quite a bit about what they’re interested in. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Someone has done you a ‘favor’ (we’ll unpack this in a sec) some way, somehow. Maybe directly, maybe indirectly, at some point in your lifetime, so, figure within the past 16ish years.
• But also, you haven’t officially thanked this person yet –– which is interesting. Again, more on this in a sec, but this is an important nugget.

Let’s start with the second bullet first. 

You Haven’t Thanked This Person Yet - Why?

Let’s leave aside the outlier versions of how one might answer this question (like the subject is unable to receive your note, etc.). Let’s assume this is a living person whom you could have thanked, but didn’t. There are a few reasons why this might be:

[1] You didn’t realize the impact that person had on you at the time, but do now, upon reflection, and because you’ve grown and matured and have a new appreciation for things.

[2] You did realize it at the time, but chose not to thank this person. Could be a very conscious decision to specifically not thank this person (fascinating already!), or, you appreciated the impact, but didn’t feel compelled to issue a formal thank you.

Whatever the case, let’s get a sense of your version. Are you just realizing it now? Or was there a reason you never thanked this person ‘back in the day’? Let’s address this head on, because every possible scenario will be interesting, you just need to grapple with your version, and tell it frankly.

Now let’s go back to that first bullet:

This person impacted you in a way such that you feel like you owe them a Thank You - What was ‘the thing’/’the impact’?

Before we get into the kinds of things you might be grateful for, let’s consider different types of intention for a second:

[A] Conscious Intention - “I’m teaching you a lesson, Young Buck.”

This is someone in a position of mentorship (teacher, priest, uncle, older sibling, parent, etc.) who is deliberately trying to impart a lesson they think will benefit you.

[B] Not Conscious - “I’m just doing what I do.”

This is someone who was not aiming to teach you something, but boy did you end up learning something. Someone who was just managing their affairs, but whose actions or ideas ‘ended up’ having a tremendous impact on you.

There are four possible combinations here:

• [1A] The person was consciously trying to mentor you - you appreciated it at the time, but are only thanking them now.
• [1B] The person was consciously trying to mentor you - you didn’t realize it at the time, but do now, and want to thank them.
• [2A] The person was not consciously trying to mentor you - you still appreciated the value at the time, but are only thanking them now.
• [2B] The person was not consciously trying to mentor you - and you’re only realizing now that it ended up having tremendous impact, and want to thank them.

Yours is likely one of those, find it, and hold onto it for a second. Okay, now we’re ready to attack this critically. 

Free your mind, and think about something someone did that impacted you, such that you’d want them to know how much this meant to you. Let’s put all of the ideas above into an organized outline so you can see how to build a response that digs a little deeper (than your competition).

Structure for Draft 1:

1. Start by explaining what was done, by whom, and what the impact was. Be as concise as you can because this isn’t the meat of this essay. (Think about whether this was a conscious or unconscious ‘lesson’ as you summarize.) (50 words or so)
2. Now, consider the combinations above and figure which one is you, and now take us through that combination. By explaining each aspect of those combos, you’ll address the most meaningful insights sought by this essay prompt. (100-125 words)
3. Take a moment to reflect on this entire exercise. What new or different insights did you gain compared to when you hadn’t thought about any of this? (25-50 words)

Duke offers the opportunity to write one or two optional essays. You should write two. Why? Because. It’s an opportunity. In a world where AI and an oversupply of applicants and criminally insane acceptance rates are the status quo, you need to seize every possible opportunity available. So, for starters, answer two.

Optional Essays - We want to emphasize that the following questions are optional. Feel free to answer one or two if you believe that doing so will add something meaningful that is not already shared elsewhere in your application. Five optional questions are available – a maximum of 2 can be selected.

Optional Essay 1 - We believe a wide range of viewpoints, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to maintaining Duke as a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community.

Dangerous. If you make a claim about why you think the circumstances of your upbringing, your life thus far, your influences, etc. make you different, unique, and special, and… there are dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of others who have more or less the same circumstances, and offer the same point of view, or worse, a much more interesting point of view, you will seem–by comparison–weak. The wrong way to attack this question is to focus on features of your life, your influences, your circumstances, and make claims about how those things make you see the world the way you see the world. This is likely to fall into that horrific trap explained above.

A better way to make it known that you offer a different perspective is through contrast, which can be achieved in one of two ways:

Option 1 - Contrast to Peers

If you can see how your peers synthesize things, how they respond to situations, how they approach problems, how they react to others, and events, and you can detect big or small differences in how *you* respond, and as far as you can tell, the source of those differences can be traced to something particular about your upbringing, influences, aspects of your identity, etc. now we may have something. Oftentimes, the most powerful insights in cases like this, manifest in small things, small differences. Bigger differences are more typically tied to differences more aligned with personality differences rather than differences in cultural or environmental inputs. All of which is to say, you’re likely to get more mileage out of noticing subtle ways in which you perceive and process things, rather than flagrant ones.

What are some examples? How did a friend respond to a situation? When did you notice you might have responded differently? Can you trace back the source of that to something specific? The influence of aspects of your cultural background? A quirky set of grandparents? The circumstances of your home life? Socioeconomic? Interpersonal dynamics of your family? Physical? Geographic? Religious? Etc. Now that you’ve traced a possible source, where else does this manifest? What are other examples that showcase the impact this had on you, through contrast between your response to certain stimuli compared to others experiencing and reacting to the same stimuli?

Option 2 - Contrast to Self

The other version of this might be to notice an evolution in your own perspective, behavior, attitude, temperament, etc. And, same as above, you can trace that change to something tied to all those potential factors (religion, family members, friends, unusual circumstances, really anything). If you walk us through the way you used to be, and compare to the way you are now, and then explain the way in which one of these influencing factors contributed to that shaping, we can see for ourselves the impact, and how you grew. Same as above, you’ll want to then point out other ways in which you noticed the mark of this influence, in other arenas.

Optional Essay 2 - Tell us about an experience in the past year or two that reflects your imagination, creativity, or intellect.

The trick with this question (and this is going to be incredibly, incredibly hard for reasons we’ll explain in a second) is to not be impressed by whatever it is you’re choosing to write about. Now, the paradoxical nature of this question is, if you’re choosing to write about something here, it stands to reason that at some level, you’re proud of it enough in some ways, no? So then how to tackle this Gordian knot?

Well, here’s one potential way to keep you out of trouble. If instead of thinking about some feature of your imagination, creativity, or intellect as being ‘awesome’ or ‘unusually cool’ or ‘next-level bruh!’ etc., move away from assigning that kind of good/bad valence to it, and instead regard it simply as … different or distinct from someone else. If the focus is more like here’s what makes my imagination, creativity, or intellect distinct (from my peer group), we the readers are more likely to be intrigued or impressed by it, versus if the implied suggestion is accompanied by a sense of ‘and this why I’m so pleased about this fact.’

Make sense? Traffic only in ‘this makes me a little different from my peers, or, ‘the typical teen’’ and you’ll end up on sturdier ground.

To drive this point home, it will often be useful to draw a contrast between some kind of ‘expected’ or ‘status quo’ version of whatever it is, before introducing your version. We need to buy the status quo as the expected version, by the way, otherwise your ‘unique’ version won’t land the way you want.

1. Establish the Status Quo. Describe the situation/experience and posit as best you can what a typical/expected response might look like.
2. Now explain what your version looked like, and highlight the differences. For now, just focus on the ‘what.’
3. Now, finally, see if you can do some analysis on the page here and take a stab at explaining why your version deviates from the norm, is different, unique, unusual, etc. Resist passing judgment (and/or being proud of this fact, simply remark on the potential explanations).
4. Where does it go from here? What might await this person (you) given these traits? See if you can extrapolate a bit and throw it into the future. This will also help us understand why you think these traits are significant/meaningful. Again, not ‘good’ necessarily, but noteworthy. This is a subtle distinction so be careful!

Optional Essay 3 - We believe there is benefit in sharing or questioning our beliefs or values; who do you agree with on the big important things, or who do you have your most interesting disagreements with? What are you agreeing or disagreeing about?

Of all the questions so far, this is by far the most interesting one. Not that anyone invited us to rate Duke’s questions (!), but, we’re doing it anyway, wahoo! Mostly because there’s meat on the bone here, and a much better opportunity for you to say something that is likely to reveal something neat and interesting (and distinct!) about what you’re made of.

If Duke were interested in your hot take on a topic (whether popular or unpopular), they’d have asked directly. Instead, they’re asking (intriguingly) about people with whom you tend to agree, or disagree. Underlying this is an unwritten question: why this person? Also notice that for the ‘disagree’ variation, they specified with whom do you have your most ‘interesting disagreements’ with?

An alternate way of asking this question, and cutting to the real nub of it is “Whose mind intrigues you and why?” Whether you tend to agree with this person or disagree with this person (on the big, important things), the noteworthy aspect of this is ‘the person’ not the subject matter. In a world with social media, it is (regrettably) all too easy to find someone who agrees with you, or disagrees with you, on the big important things. There’s no shortage of it. In fact, let’s pursue this, to make a point. Imagine issuing a cogent argument for … one of the big topics of the day, say on YouTube. Imagine you spent months preparing the most hard-hitting analysis and persuasive case imaginable, a video that’s 60 minutes long. A real meaty piece. Now (sigh), imagine the comments section.

Imagine user #1 replied simply with a ‘smiley face.’
And then imagine user #2 replies with something so horrific and negative and mean-spirited and snarky and childish and worthless…

With these two examples, we have both (1) someone who agrees with you! (smiley face dude), as well as (2) someone who disagrees with you (the person who said unbelievably offensive and personal and unhelpfully dumb things).

We are not interested in either of these folks, and nor should you be. It would be disappointing, in fact, if you paid much attention to either.

In order to get to something searing, and interesting, some combination of ‘the person you choose’ or ‘your rationale for choosing that person’ must be surprising in some way. Probably, the most effective ‘choice’ here is someone you know and interact with, rather than a public figure who has no real means of challenging or interacting with you. If you go the ‘well-known figure’ route, you will likely need to choose a controversial figure as someone you agree with on big things, or, choose someone who everyone else agrees with also, but for very different reasons. Absent either of those, you’re better off choosing someone in your orbit, whom you’ve had spirited debates and discussions with, and you can explain to us what it is about that other person, that draws you in to wanting to have these discussions. Remember, we’re not that interested in the discussions themselves.

1. What is it about the way this person thinks that means something to you?
2. How does this person challenge you?
3. What is responsible for it? Something about that person’s circumstances, experiences, background that plays a part?
4. If you agree with this person, what is it about this person’s approach that means something more than another person with the same belief?
5. If you disagree with this person, what is it that draws you into wanting to have the debate? Are you interested in winning always? Or do you find yourself benefitting from the exchange because this person is able to push you to sharpen your own thinking, or even offer something that strengthens your beliefs?

Optional Essay 4 - Duke’s commitment to inclusion and belonging includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Feel free to share with us more about how your identity in this context has meaning for you as an individual or as a member of a community.

Not a whole lot to advise here other than to suggest that we’ve seen our share of stories dealing with deeply personal themes like this, and the strongest ones are the most earnest, and sincerely conveyed. If that sounds incredibly pat, it turns out to be a lot harder than it sounds. Here’s one interesting trick. Think of a person who gets you like no one else in the world. Someone who hears you, sees you, knows you better than you know yourself. Write an essay, and reveal some thoughts that may surprise *that* person in some ways. If you attempt that, you are likely to engage the part of your brain’s writing center that is at its most sincere!

Optional Essay 5 - We recognize that not fully “fitting in” a community or place can sometimes be difficult. Duke values the effort, resilience, and independence that may require. Feel free to share with us circumstances where something about you is different and how that’s influenced your experiences or identity.

The setup here is great, Duke invokes killer qualities like ‘effort’ and ‘resilience’ and ‘independence’ as it pertains to being on the wrong side of ‘fitting in.’ Then (with respect) they kind of … dropped the ball a bit by posing a question that feels a bit too open-ended, and may entice you to take your eye off those earlier ‘suggested themes’ that could be rich themes to mine. Rather than answer open-endedly, about a way in which you’re different, we’d recommend (even if just for a first draft) attempt to bring that theme, but couched in a story where you had to summon something, do something that wasn’t easy, go against the current, learn or develop resilience, independence, and the true meaning of effort.

Start with establishing the thing that made you feel like an outsider. But rather than leap straight into your grievances, sell us what it was about the ‘group’ you wanted to be a part of in the first place. What was it that attracted you it, and make you want to be a part of it? Assuming you didn’t expect being made to feel like an outsider, why did you feel like you might have had more in common than perhaps others felt? Now, let’s get into the ‘not fitting in phase’ and what that made you realize about what aspects of you were either truly different or perceived as being different. And now, take us through what you did. Take us through your thoughts. Your initial reactions. Even the irrational ones. Then walk us through the dialogue where you reconciled all these complicated thoughts and emotions, of having a sense of your identity, having an expectation of fitting in, receiving the feedback that others may not be as accepting of you on whatever basis, and what you did to forge a path forward. You don’t need much in the way of fancy footwork after that. What we want to see if the mechanics of how you navigated these complicated elements. Therein lies the coolest possible insight into what makes you different, and what makes you you.

*Updated August 2024*

Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy. (200-250 words)

Oh dear Brown, this question is a hot mess. Caring about work and the world around us can sometimes be related to joy. But also can have absolutely nothing at all in common. And so, to bring these two together here may mislead, and so, we’re going to help you avoid that. The opening statement has an “I’m a thoughtful person and care about things other than myself, I am mindful of issues that are bigger than me, and whatever I commit myself to is more about the impact to others and to the world than the joy it may bring me!” vibe to it. But then, we end with “big or small” “mundane or spectacular” and this is designed to unshackle you from the shackles the opening statement placed around your wrists. So, just for fun, do yourself a favor and ignore that first sentence. Try this variation of the question on for size:

Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in things big or small, mundane or spectacular. Tell us about something that brings you joy. (200-250 words)

What we want to get a sense of is this: imagine a magical camera that follows you around all day every day, trained on your eyes. And pretend this ‘movie’ is live streamed, all day every day on YouTube. All we see is your eyes, close up. For most of the day, it’s normal eye stuff. You blink, you go through an expected range of emotions, “Oh look they’re smiling here, you can tell, and oh no, here you see that they’re really sad, and haha right around now, whatever they’re doing you can see that they’re bored, the eyes tell all!”

But then, all of a sudden, the eyes glow. And look different. The viewer sits up and says “Right there, pause the movie. What is this person looking at, thinking about, hearing, listening to, experiencing, whatever––because whatever that thing is… appears to be delivering a kind of joy and fulfillment that is unlike all the other thousands of instances I’ve seen where they seem generally happy or upbeat. Something about *this* moment is raw, uncut, pure ‘joy.’

What fills you up? What makes you smile? What makes you wish ‘I want to stay in this place a little longer’? When are you most at peace? When do you pump your fist and feel an adrenaline rush?

Every person’s source of ‘joy’ and ‘response’ will be different. And this is really what Brown is hoping to get a sense of. The things that bring joy to people can be so different, and therefore interesting, but even more, the way in which people people is also noteworthy. Either the ‘source’ of the joy is mundane, something almost no one else gets joy out of, but you do! That’s interesting. Or, it’s something that few others are likely to get joy out of because it’s a very very very specific thing, unique to you, your circumstances, your tastes, your talents, your interests, etc. Also great. Because in either scenario, we’re learning something about you.

So, let’s structure this thing. Two options. If you have a mundane thing, and your joy response is the things that’s unusual, let’s call this ‘Option 1 - Joy Response Unusual.’ If however you have a unique source of joy, let’s call that ‘Option 2 - Joy Source Unusual’:

Option 1 - Joy Response Unusual

1. Establish the status quo by explaining the source (the thing) and how the typical person reacts, or what a typical reaction is. Now reveal how your response is different, and before you ‘assess’ this is a joyful response, initially just describe the response. Describe the sensations, the stimulation, the way you react, what you’re thinking, what feels good about it, etc. Now, finally, explain that this thing that is a ‘whatever no big deal’ for others is actually something that brings you unusual amounts of joy and satisfaction and contentment. (100 words)
2. Now, we need to figure out why that is, and explain it. What is it about how you’re wired that makes this satisfying for you? What can you learn about yourself here that helps make sense of it? When you isolate the root causes, now invert it and explain it by applying it to other sources that will elicit the same reaction, based on this insight. Imagine things in the future, either at Brown, or twenty years beyond, that will deliver this same joy, given this insight into how you’re wired. (100-150 words)

Option 2 - Joy Source Unusual

1. If the source is unusual, your best bet is simply to take us on the journey of walking us through the stages of how ‘the thing’ gets you to a state of joy, elation, satisfaction, etc. Given that it is likely new to us, and unique in some ways to you, we won’t know what the joy-inducing aspect is until you explain it, and therefore, it will naturally have a dramatic tension to it, if told in a straightforward manner. Working backwards from your ‘elated’ state, trace it back to the very first stage, and take us through it, step by step. Don’t explain the joy part yet. Initially just take us through what’s happening.(50 words)
2. Now explain the satisfaction part. Articulate the sensation of the contentment/joy/positive-feeling itself, not so much the ‘meaning of it’ but rather, the elevated state. How can you tell you’re in this elevated state and feeling good, in other words?(50 words)
3. Next, and finally, let’s try to explain all of it. What is it about how you’re wired that makes this thing satisfying for you? What can you learn about yourself here that helps us understand it all? When you isolate the root causes, now invert it and explain it by applying it to newer and different sources that might elicit the same reaction, based on this insight. Imagine things in the future, either at Brown, or twenty years beyond, that will deliver this same joy, given this insight into how you’re wired. (100-150 words)

The goal endpoint here is that we want to see *that* you’re excitable. And we want to see you get excited and electrified and glowing and active on the page here. That trait is something Brown would like to gamble on. The kid with the fire in their belly. The kid who gets excited about things, feels joy, is self-aware enough to understand what it is that delivers that joy, and therefore wants to replicate the circumstances that produce more of it. That person is likely to have the motivation to make their way through… anything, and succeed.

*Updated September 2024*

Essay 2

How will you explore community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective, and how your experiences and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words)

Before you start exploring anything, you need an aim. Even infants who don’t know any better still have an aim: ‘wander into the most dangerous areas in the most dangerous way and ideally create angst in my parents but also discover new stuff(!).’ 

Here are key questions to ask:

• What is your definition of community?
• Where does that definition come from? And more relevantly, in what ways has community played a role in your life?
• Can you identify specific ways in which engagement with community somehow affected your perspective, or helped shape you?

That’s your ‘starting point’ homework assignment. An important foundation. Once you have these concepts clear, you can start considering the next batch:

• Given your past relationship with community, and understanding of its potential value add (for now, how it impacts you), what new versions of this are you looking to experience while you’re in college?
• If these are the same, explain why; if they’re new, explain why.
• Now explain where at UPenn you’re hoping to find this. What is it about UPenn’s offerings/environment that may be more appealing than another school? How will you engage?
• Now consider ways in which you’ll be a value-add to the communities in which you hope to participate. 
• Why is it important to you? 
• Why should we believe you? Can you prove that you’re committed to this and not just saying things that sound great?
• Will your ‘contributions’ (your mixing with Penn communities) make Penn better, richer, cooler, more interesting somehow? If so, explain.

Those are some of the big questions you’ll do yourself a favor by thinking through carefully. Once you’ve done that legwork, now we can assemble a decent starting point for a first draft:

1. Sell us on why community matters to you, how it has shaped you and why you seek newer experiences given this history. This needs to be convincing, and if you pull this off, you’ll make others who don’t go to these lengths look like they’re talking a big game but may not necessarily walk the talk. (50 words)
2. Now show us how well-researched you are about Penn by walking through how one or two or three ‘communities’ intersect with the needs you laid out in your opening. As you talk through what you’re hoping to explore, explain the value it will bestow on you. (75-100 words) 
3. Finally, show us that you understand that community is a two-way street, and that you have something valuable to add. What is that thing, why should anyone want that, make it so that we can picture/appreciate the value-add. (50-75 words)

Of course, 2 and 3 do not necessarily need to be separate and chronological, it is 100% possible to integrate rather seamlessly. Find whatever ‘argument’ suits your style better. More importantly, hit the points. This is after all a first draft. If you hit those themes, having thought through all the other stuff, you’ll have a decent first pass.

*Updated August 2024*

First-year applicants are also asked to reflect briefly on each of the very short answer questions below. We expect that answers will range from a few words to a few sentences at most.

What three words best describe you? (3 words)

This isn’t going to tip the scales on getting you in, or rejected. At worst it’s a shoulder shrug. At best, it causes one eyebrow to rise because you’ve said something a little bit interesting or unusual in some way. Don’t sweat too hard on this one. Just don’t be ordinary and predictable and down-the-middle. Try to bring some ‘pepper’ to the table. Either the words contrast and contradict each other in a way that’s cool and not head-scratchy. Or they are unusual words to choose to describe oneself. Or they’re normal words but interesting choices for you given all the other vapors coming off your application.

What is your most meaningful extracurricular commitment, and what would you like us to know about it? (100 words)

The juice here is less likely to be found in the spectacular-ness of the commitment/activity or achievement, but rather, something personal about your attraction to it. Either you overcame something and the overcoming aspect is noteworthy. Or you proved something to yourself. Or you inspired others in an interesting way. Or it just brings out your very best and ‘fills you up’ and if so, awesome, we want to know more about why you think that is (rather than focus on the activity details or achievement). You can of course convey the activity or achievements earned, but just make sure that that’s only 15% or so of your 100 words.

If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 words)

They didn’t ask, but you should still convey the ‘why’ aspect. What would the class be, and why would anyone other than you want for this class to exist?! There are a few ways to approach this. You might take a class that is commonly taught already, but you might bring something unique to the table. If so, awesome, sell us on that. Or, you have a unique take on something, or a new concept or subject that isn’t taught or is relatively uncommon. Sell us on why this would be a worthwhile contribution.

In one sentence, Why Brown? (50 words)

One sentence to explain what it is about Brown you think may bring out something in your that another place like Stanford or Yale or Princeton or insert-equally-top-ranked-school won’t do quite as well. That’s a tall order. But it’s doable. This is your opportunity to convey a soulmate statement that should satisfy this version of the question:

“Why is me + Brown the best possible combination of all combinations?”

‘Nuff said. If you can answer that variation, you’ve got something. (And that’s the question you should be thinking about when you answer the official question.)

*Updated September 2024*

Essay 3

The school-specific prompt is unique to the school to which you are applying. (For example, all applicants applying to the College of Arts and Sciences will respond to the prompt under the “College of Arts and Sciences” section). Considering the undergraduate school you have selected for your single-degree option, please respond to your school-specific prompt below.  

Each of these is similar-ish. But different enough that they each warrant some unpacking. Let’s go through each for a tailored approach to each program’s unique question.

School of Nursing

Penn Nursing intends to meet the health needs of a global, multicultural world by preparing its students to impact healthcare through advancing science. How will you contribute to our mission of promoting equity in healthcare and how will Penn Nursing contribute to your future nursing goals? (150-200 words)

“To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about Penn Nursing’s mission and how we promote equity in healthcare here. This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of our values and how they align with your own goals and aspirations.”

Curiously, they’re not that interested in your reasons for pursuing nursing, unless those reasons intersect with the theme of equity, in a way that aligns with Penn’s particular mission and definitions. It’s within their right to do so, but they are not-so-subtly saying, “Those whose missions do not align with ours on this issue, need not apply.” Or at least, it may be useful to interpret it that way. They are telling you what matters to them, and what they need you to be similarly drawn to, because therein (for them) lies the correct recipe for total success. 

So, if your relationship with equity isn’t in excellent alignment with theirs, you’ll either need to fake it convincingly here to make it seem like it is? Or, you might honestly be better off setting your sights elsewhere (and to Penn’s credit, mission accomplished for telegraphing what they’re looking for as clearly as they have.) If, however, when you click that link and read about their mission, those words resonate hard, fantastic, you’re in the right place.

Your next mission will be NOT simply to restate those bullets and claim them as your own, and conclude “You see? This is my mission as well! We’re meant for each other!” Instead, you’ll need to develop a kind of ‘proof’ that shows what life events and experiences led you to develop an affinity for those ideas. Show us how things in your life made those mission statements a part of you. If you do that, then without even stating it, you will have made it apparent *that* you and Penn are peas on a pod on this theme. 

Here’s how you’ll want to structure this one:

1. Show us the crumbs in your life that led you to your relationship with the theme of equity in a way that aligns with Penn’s mission statements (using that link). We need to understand how you got to where you are on this topic. (75 words)
2. Now draw a link between Penn’s approach to Nursing, with its focus on these issues, and your personal connection to the field of nursing, your experiences, goals, etc. All with an anchor-point focus around (Penn’s and therefore your definition of) ‘equity.’ (50-75 words)
3. Now, finally, take us through precisely how you will advance that mission, carry it forward, add to it, contribute something perhaps new and well-aligned, etc. Think about this very carefully, it’s easier said than done. Your credibility here relies on having nailed ‘Part 1’ above. Others who neglect Part 1 will simply be saying words and hoping Penn believes them. (50-75 words)

College of Arts and Sciences

The flexible structure of The College of Arts and Sciences’ curriculum is designed to inspire exploration, foster connections, and help you create a path of study through general education courses and a major. What are you curious about and how would you take advantage of opportunities in the arts and sciences? (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about the academic offerings within the College of Arts and Sciences.  This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of how the study of the liberal arts aligns with your own goals and aspirations. 

Penn wants to see a deep level of engagement with Penn. Others in the competitive pool will be going full tilt here, and spoiling it for those who only make a ‘very credible argument but don’t go far enough toward proving that they have immersed fully in all the Penn specifically has to offer.’ So, understand that that’s where the bar is, and if you hope to compete, you need to put in the work. 

Here’s what they’re asking, and honestly, this can double as the structure for your essay itself:

• What are you curious about? (25-50 words)
• What are you hoping to do with that curiosity? How are you hoping to harness it? To what end? Where might it take you? What about that drives you? (25-75 words)
• We know that there are 10-20 other places that offer opportunities in the ‘arts and sciences’ and that if you were to combine you and your interests with ANY of those programs, you would likely be plenty fulfilled and plenty successful. Why, though, might you feel a particular, unusual, stronger attraction to OUR OFFERINGS? What is it about the combination of You + Penn that makes you feel like it may catapult you to a cooler, better, more fulfilled Future You? (100-125 words)

When you get to that last bullet, you’ll want to connect your interests and goals with not just specific offerings of Upenn but some combination of ‘UPenn offering + UPenn trait/feature’ that makes it distinctly different from a similar opportunity at another program. Every program may offer a unique set of classes. Great. Who cares. It’s not enough to name a class or a professor. There has to be more. There has to be some thread, or cumulative cultural characteristic or theme that connects UPenn opportunities in a way that sums to a more desirable option set than any alternative. 

One of the mistakes applicants make is to think that they can simply study UPenn (and links like the one UPenn provides here) and fashion a convincing argument. Wrong. In order to have chosen UPenn, in a way that’s truly convincing, you need to have done this exact type of homework with competitor programs, and found deltas between UPenn and those programs, and be able to articulate what those deltas are as you see them, and why they draw you in. This is where the real ‘study’ is. You need to do this level of digging with Harvard, and Columbia, and Brown, and wherever else you’re applying alongside UPenn, getting a ‘feel’ for those programs. You then need to be able to describe succinctly what makes each school different from one another, or at the very least, what makes UPenn somehow distinctly different from the rest.

Do all that legwork, think through these issues carefully and then develop your case.

The Wharton School

Wharton prepares its students to make an impact by applying business methods and economic theory to real-world problems, including economic, political, and social issues.  Please reflect on a current issue of importance to you and share how you hope a Wharton education would help you to explore it.  (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about the foundations of a Wharton education. This information will help you better understand what you could learn by studying at Wharton and what you could do afterward. 

This question (sigh) presumes that your interest in Wharton (and business) must be inextricably linked to real-world ‘problems.’ This prompt seems to invite themes that are heavy, hot-topics, big ‘important’ issues as if on a universal scale, rather than something that’s important to you, and might serve to add value to the business space and affect even a tiny corner of the world in a small, indirect, and unspectacular (but still meaningful) way. Our advice: kill that noise.

Figure out what drives you. Figure out what you’re hoping to achieve in the realm of business. Be as unflinchingly pure and honest as possible. Really ‘get’ to it. The what. The why. Imagine succeeding at whatever it is that lights a fire in you. How will anything be different/better as a result of that? Start there. (This is really what UPenn is hoping to get a sense of btw.)

Now, you’ll need to do some ‘curve-fitting’ potentially. And go through the Wharton stuff (use their links, study the hell out of it, read everything you can). But then, do this again with NYU Stern, Ross, all the other undergrad business options and get their vibe also. See if you can pay attention to ways in which the Wharton version is generating a different kind of feeling, and see if you can pinpoint it, and then explain what those examples are, why a path that travels through Wharton gets more out of you than an alternative.

Yes, there’s more to connect, but our advice is to start here, hit these themes first and foremost and then we can assess whether this is compelling enough to build on, or whether we need to consider more ‘universal themes’ of social issues/business problems that may telegraph a kind of socially-engaged applicant that UPenn is looking for.

The School of Engineering and Applied Science

Penn Engineering prepares its students to become leaders in technology by combining a strong foundation in the natural sciences and mathematics with depth of study in focused disciplinary majors. Please share how you plan to pursue your engineering interests at Penn. (150-200 words)

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about Penn Engineering and its mission to prepare students for global leadership in technology here. This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of academic pathways within Penn Engineering and how they align with your goals and interests.

Sobriety, clean, measured, cogent responses will win the day here. Can you weave a compelling relationship between natural sciences and mathematics, and the focused disciplinary majors mentioned in that link? Not just in a vacuum but given your specific engineering interests? One neat way to do this is to imagine a narrower understanding of how someone else might pursue this area of interest, in a way that *didn’t* weave in those other areas. Can you extrapolate what that looks like? Can you now make that picture much stronger by flowing it through a more exhaustive and creative approach that borrows from nearby areas? If it’s better, what makes it so? Take a spin through UPenn’s engineering approach, but then read the equivalent pitch from 5-10 other programs. Are there any differences? What are they? Can you find a way that a few of those differences, or perhaps a through-line, makes for a stronger opportunity for your specific interests than an alternative? If you’re headed toward engineering, you need to be able to demonstrate ‘precise thinking’ and put that on display here.

1. What ideas/interests are you attracted to (engineering-wise)? (25-50 words)
2. What are you hoping to parlay these into, in a perfect world? Give us a potential end game, even if you can’t possibly know the specifics, you might have a sense of the general themes/processes/areas you’d like to marinate in. (50 words)
3. Now explain what kind of approach will lead to the best version of this (ahem, this is the part where you start to show an awareness of how things like a combination of natural sciences plus mathematics works well and why). (25-50 words)
4. Now explain the ways in which UPenn’s unique approach is the most attractive version of this for you, given who you are, and your interests. (75 words)

That gets you to a decent first draft, which we can hack into.

*Updated August 2024*

Transfer students are also asked to complete the following very short answer question:

What is your most meaningful extracurricular commitment, and what would you like us to know about it? (100 words)

It’s the same question posed to ‘first year’ applicants, and because we’re dealing with 100 words, the approach for first years applies to transfer students as well. The juice here is less likely to be found in the spectacular-ness of the commitment/activity or achievement, but rather, something personal about your attraction to it. Either you overcame something and the overcoming aspect is noteworthy. Or you proved something to yourself. Or you inspired others in an interesting way. Or it just brings out your very best and ‘fills you up’ and if so, awesome, we want to know more about why you think that is (rather than focus on the activity details or achievement). You can of course convey the activity or achievements earned, but just make sure that that’s only 15% or so of your 100 words.

*Updated September 2024*

Transfer Essay (required for all transfer applicants): Please explain your reasons for transferring from your current institution and what you hope to gain by transferring to another institution. (4150 characters) 

Check out our analysis of The Transfer Essay here.

The Optional MBA Essay

If this were an Agatha Christie novel, we’d title it: “The Case of the Missing Facet”

We’ll get to why in a sec…

First, a brief recent history of b-schools’ relationship with the optional essay, and how our recommendations have evolved over the years:

2007ish – Generally, b-schools would say “Use this space… if you have anything else to add. Cool?” So, our recommendation was essentially “Always do it, no matter what. You’re given a choice to fire another bullet, why on Earth would you not take it!?” Simple enough.

Early 2010s – But then, an interesting trend emerges. Several top b-schools start to make a point of saying “Please, for the love all that is holy, don’t use this space to slide in an extra essay. ONLY use this space to explain away major red flags. Like, seriously dude, don’t test me on this.” It’s as if these people were saying, “If you don’t heed our warning, we’ll count it against you.” Naturally, our recommendation was (a) to read each school’s wording carefully, and (b) generally to avoid the optional essay UNLESS you had a red flag you needed to explain away, in which case, absolutely use this space to address possible negatives, efficiently and confidently. This was also happening at a time when schools were generally starting to shrink word counts from 3000 or so to 2000 and in several cases 1000 or fewer. Clearly, they were getting more words than they wanted, so the game was more about who can say everything they need to… concisely?

2016, 2017, 2018ish – Nowadays, we’re starting to see a return to open-endedness in the way the Optional Essay is worded. And we’re taking it as a signal, since their wording is usually pretty deliberate, year to year. It’s as if they’re now saying, “Aight, we’ve asked what we wanted to ask. You got somethin’ else to say? Do it, if you want.” This shift in tone (and wording) that we’re seeing almost across the board is significant. It seems to be opening a door that was once almost noisily closed SHUT. You’ll find that the wording is usually more restrictive on longer applications: if the optional is one of two essays, they’ll let you write almost anything; if it’s the ninth essay on the application, they’ll discourage material that’s not 100% critical to understanding your profile. What are they signaling, exactly?

Well, our take at the moment is this: unless the wording is clearly aggressive in the direction of “don’t use this space EXCEPT for explaining away problem spots in your profile,” then… we recommend USING it to round out your profile in whatever way adds the most value.

This won’t always mean walking the admissions committee through your best leadership moment or talking about some obvious resume bullet point you weren’t given the opportunity to talk about in the rest of your essays. It’s much more complicated than that. The trick at this point is to add up everything you’ve got: GMAT/GRE, the story your resume tells, the stuff your LORs will likely contain, your transcripts, your other application essays, all of it, the totality of your entire app. Look at it from a distance, and reduce it down to an essence. One way to do this is to coldly, robotically, without emotion, describe that person (you) – this redux version – using single-word-descriptions, pick maybe five. What words do you end up with?

Cool, now ask yourself… is anything vital MISSING from that redux list? What is a key part of what makes you an amazing candidate that hasn’t been adequately captured yet? It’s possible that adcoms will GET your leadership abilities at a glance from your resume, and possibly from one of your recommenders. But perhaps your resume doesn’t tell us that you have an INSANELY international perspective based on the consistency of geography and work experience. Imagine someone coming to the WRONG conclusion and assuming that to be a major weakness, when in fact, it’s the opposite! Now would be the time to use this Optional Essay space to make a point of that in whatever the most compelling way would be for YOU. Maybe it’s an anecdote, maybe it’s simply matter-of-factly explaining it away.

This part is important: it is possible to paint the perfect picture through the rest of the application. Such that, if you’re given this opening, and the BEST possible thing you can come up with here is REDUNDANT (captured BETTER elsewhere/already), or, a second-rate item on your resume, then you may actually risk WEAKENING your profile by overstaying your welcome. Use this space only if NOT using it might result in the admissions committee missing something vital about your candidacy.

Don’t just lob in a great story, because you can. Lob in a missing FACET to your profile. A facet that – when added to the rest of the facets captured by the rest of your app – now sums to something that may be MORE compelling than a competitor within your demographic, or (even better) simply lift you a head and shoulder ABOVE the entire playing field.

Find your missing facet.

And then use this space to bake it in. Think of the Optional Essay as an opportunity to COMPLETE your application, not “BOOST” it.

To make a culinary analogy, the “boosters” end up with a dish that they then say, “Damnit, it was perfect before I added that extra pinch of salt.” Or, “Damnit, I shouldn’t have added that lemon zest, now it’s too lemony.” Instead, it’s all about the chef who tastes the almost-finished product, and is BOTHERED by the absence of something, “It’s almost there, it’s just missing… some kind of acid/sweetness/spicy kick/etc.” And THEN they add whatever is missing to bring it home. Those people… usually pick wisely.

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (100-200 words)

For this sucker, spend less time extolling the virtues of a department and certain professors and all that jazz and spend MORE time (all of your time, actually) examining what aspects of the anticipated “learning” connects best with you.

One cool way to look at it is this: imagine someone said “Congratulations! You get to go to MIT, but only through this bizarre roulette system where you’re gonna end up in one random department that you won’t get to choose, but you’ll have to stick with it for four years.” And let’s suppose that you ACCEPT that offer, for argument’s sake. What do those paths all look like? Do they fulfill more or less the exact same thing for you? Do you like each potential option equally? We certainly hope not! Hopefully, among the options, one or two stands out as being part of your overall future plan, fitting in with your skillset, desires, and goals… better. What are the elements that make that so?

“This is the subject matter that sends a bolt of lightning through my system, here’s why, here’s what I hope to do with it, and here’s why this particular department is the one that’s gonna combine with my passion, and vision, in the most meaningful way…” essentially.

See how that argument goes? Leave aside praise for MIT and its strengths. It knows all that. What it doesn’t know is how those strengths align better with you than another candidate.

Structure:

1. First, establish what you WANT in a program. And what you NEED. Be specific. Explain this in the context of something you’re hoping to achieve, develop, etc.
2. Now, explain why one or two SPECIFIC aspects of a specific department/program at MIT MEETS those wants and needs better than (or differently from) other schools/programs.

Learn more and explore each step of MIT’s undergraduate application process here.

Please write a short essay in response to each of the three essay topics below. There is a 100-word minimum and a 250-word maximum for each essay.

First, let’s briefly get a sense of what 250 words means. It’s two average paragraphs, or three lean paragraphs. Also known as: not a ton of space! The burden is on you to think about the meatiest point you can make, and then to build your argument strategically, so that you deliver that point with maximum impact and minimum fluff. It’s not as easy as it may sound. For our analysis, we’re mostly going to dig into the “meat” aspect: how to pick the ONE idea you can fit in each of these tiny slots.

Essay 1: The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.

Strangely, this one rides or dies on the proof that you’re actually, truly, genuinely excited about learning. What serves as proof? Action. The stuff you do in response to the stuff you’re inspired by… that demonstrates it, and makes it real. Anyone can claim to be super inspired by X, Y, and Z and talk about it. But if all they do is talk, does it really matter? Not exactly the world’s sexiest Zen koan, but you get the idea.

Something to consider here – something common to folks who are genuinely excited about learning – is an unusual comfort level with being WRONG. A thirst for learning is predicated on acknowledging (1)  that you don’t know everything already, and (2) that the stuff you may think you know, is wrong or incomplete. Why mention this? Because it can help your case to give evidence of that. Have you ever been wrong about something, and been thrilled to discover a better way of thinking about that thing? Walk us through what that felt like, why it might have felt bad at some point, and why it eventually felt good to have developed, improved, evolved. We need to really PROVE that you’re excited by learning, and admitting that you’ve been wrong (and loved it), is an excellent way to do so.

Another way, alluded to earlier, is purely through action. Is there evidence of “tirelessness” when you’re attempting to learn something? We need to see ways in which you pursue this thing, especially when it’s inconvenient to do so. In other words, if your pursuit is compelling, but kinda expected, it won’t weigh as much. If you decided you wanted to get some cereal, and then went out and bought yourself some cereal… um, okay? But if on the way, it started to rain, and a hurricane arrived, and the store closed, so you hitchhiked to another location, and that store was closed too, so you decided to call your friend you know who happened to have an extra box, but he wasn’t home, so you decided to……. [yada yada]…. You ended up with your box of Crispix. Now that person's interest in “cereal” seems unimpeachable, no? Show us how you pursued knowledge when no one else was looking, or when it became very inconvenient to do so, or when the risk of continuing started to outweigh the benefits, or… you get the idea.

Most students will focus on the THING they’re excited about, rather than proving that they are excited through action. It’s that second group that ultimately wins, because we now have reason to believe that they have that forward-leaning trait which will carry them through college and beyond. (And that’s whole point of this question – to make sure you won’t drop out in freshman year when you take a class that’s harder than any class you’ve ever taken before.)

Essay 2: Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.

Stanford has been asking this one for a long time. The mistake we see 95% of the time on first drafts is students trying to “slip in” resume highlights. This question is not a veiled attempt by Stanford to get those highlights (they could, you know, just ask for them). The way to impress Stanford here is through honesty and charm. But mostly honesty.

Indulge us here and take two swings at this. On the first attempt, get it out of your system, whatever letter you want to write, just take a crack and then file it away for the time being.

On your second attempt, go with us on a little journey. Start by creating a roommate, leaving everything to chance (the way it’ll more or less work out when you’re actually assigned a roommate). For starters, your roommate will almost certainly be the same gender. Now, generate a bunch of parameters, like ethnicity, height, weight, athletic/musical/etc., liberal/conservative, affable/surly, cool/not-so-cool, American/international/etc.…. Don’t spend too much time—we just need a vague picture—but give this person a name.

Now, you’re gonna address a fresh new letter to this person. If the open-ended-ness of the Stanford prompt leaves you stuck, consider some of the following ideas. Write the letter using one of the following:

• What if your roommate just confided in you, and told you an incredible secret. Something that leaves your roommate in an extremely vulnerable emotional state having just put him/herself on the line. What might you reveal about YOURSELF in response? “Hey, so here’s something most people don’t know about ME…” (What might follow that up?)
• Treat it as though it were a dating profile. What kinds of preferences would you reveal about yourself that might give the BEST clues about what you’re all about? Think about quirks and specificity here. If you were to say “I like Chinese food” it doesn’t say all that much since so many different types of people would fall under that same category. If, however, you were to say you absolutely HATE the HBO show “Game of Thrones” that would have the opposite effect since “most people are obsessed with that show (INCLUDING ALL OF US AT ADMISSIONADO, SO WATCH YOUR STEP!).” Can you stack up a few such preferences that, when summed, may help someone get a sense for what you’re all about, and even better, become more curious to get to know you better?
• You know that classic question “if you were stuck on a desert island forever, what album would you bring?” … You can put a twist on it here. Name a few KEY possessions you’re gonna bring that’ll be essential to your comfort. Forget bland necessities like “a toothbrush” (since everyone will be packing one of those). More like, the “sounds of the rainforest” you use to lull yourself to sleep every night. Stuff like that. And possibly even suggest a few things you DON’T have that your roommate may bring to complete the set for total roommate symbiosis. You don’t need to follow this conceit exactly, but maybe this gives you an idea from which you can springboard to help show us something about who you are exactly, and what makes you … you.

Essay 3: Tell us about something that is meaningful to you, and why?

Ha, in 250 words… you’re asked to grapple with one of life’s more challenging questions. A fitting test for a place like Stanford. Let’s start with what NOT to do.

Extinguish the desire to imagine what Stanford wants to hear. If you pen a response that you BELIEVE will put you in good stead because you think it shows maturity, or emotional intelligence, or whatever else… you are in for a crash landing. Or, tell you what, let’s a make a deal. Write that version, and keep it handy. Now write ANOTHER version that may never ever see the light of day. Think of this as a private diary entry. An exercise that may lead to something. But take the pressure away that someone might read it, so be more honest than you might want to be otherwise.

For this version, imagine you’re addressing a  huge crowd (as if you are the Pope, or MLK), and it’s a crowd of people who… aren’t really contributing all that positively to society. Maybe they’re lazy. Maybe they’re irresponsible. Maybe they’re disaffected. Maybe they’re dangerous. Let’s just call them the folks who aren’t model citizens of the world.

What might you say to inspire these folks? Think about it. If you were to say something obvious, wouldn’t it run the risk of not having much of an impact? Make it less about you (just for a second), and instead think about what you might say to inspire this crowd. If you were to say “say no to drugs” or “do unto others…” or “cherish each day as though it were your last” … hasn’t everyone heard it already? If they haven’t internalized those ideas, they’re certainly not gonna do so just because YOU said it, right? But they might if they hear something NEW, something fresh about what matters, in a way that may cause them to re-evaluate things or see things through a new lens.

Obviously, you won’t want to write about something trivial, like “driving a nice car matters because the value of a smooth ride is more pleasing than a bumpy one.” Unless it’s a cracking metaphor, something like that might make your message seem like you didn’t give it a whole lot of thought, or, worse, you’re someone who’s so privileged that that type of material comfort is truly something that matters more than deeper, cooler things. So, it probably will have to do with human interaction, or a way of approaching things, or a state of being, or the like. Think about where others are going wrong. What are others MISSING, in a way that leads to irresponsible behavior, actions, attitudes, etc.? What matters to YOU that makes you feel like your compass is pointed in a better direction?

This conceit (of addressing a crowd) is meant to unlock ideas, not for you to embrace the idea too literally. You’re not proselytizing. So, if it helps, use your imagination of the crowd to help the ideation process, and then if you find a neat germ of an idea, you can build on it and then personalize it and develop it in a form that’s more suitable for this 250-word space. If you’re having a writer’s block and there’s no hope in sight, consider taking advantage of college admissions assistance.

Above all, be interesting here, by taking some risks. If you write something that you think someone else might ALSO say, torch it. Do it over. Keep doing it until you’re convinced that no one else will be writing about this idea. Or, write about a common idea in an uncommon way. Push yourself here, and avoid “predictable.”

Learn more and explore each step of Stanford’s undergraduate application process here.

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (100-200 words)

Only a few of you will have the natural instinct to be 100% honest here and let loose. The REST of you are likely going to ask yourselves some version of the following: “what can I say here that will impress the admissions committee the most”? Dear, dear applicant… this is your opportunity to unclench, and let loose. If your answer here is boring, guess what that says about you. If your answer here feels overly manufactured, guess what that says about you.

MIT has the luxury of picking out, from among the smartest candidates on planet Earth, the individuals who ALSO have a vibrant personality that will synergize well with other geniuses. So they get to take 100 over-qualified candidates, and find the 5 or so that light it up for them the most. Don’t blow these opportunities to be cool and likable. The way to be likable is to make honest admissions here, and prove that you’re unafraid to do so.

So, what stuff actually gives you pleasure? What stuff lessens stress? What stuff makes you smile? What stuff makes you giddy? What stuff makes you feel alive? Make a list. Aim for ten items. Ten things that no one around you necessarily knows about. Maybe they do, but maybe they don’t. Maybe these things that you do for the pleasure of it are private or hidden escapes that don’t appear on any bulletin boards in your school. Doesn’t matter. Make a list of ten.

Okay, phew. Hopefully, that was fun. In fact, hopefully, it became MORE fun once you started to get into the groove a bit. But now, you have a list of ten things. Which of these things do you think someone else MIGHT write about? Cross it out.

How many items are left? (If you have zero items left, we have another plan for you which we’ll get to in a minute.) Of these remaining items, which one feels the most unusual, or the one that is most “you”? Which one has a unique story behind it? Which one CONTRASTS with your profile the most? Let’s say your resume is chock full of science awards… imagine how boring it would be to learn that in your spare time, you like to experiment with growing plants. Good lord. It would be much cooler if instead you talked about how you are obsessed with costumes. Costumes in movies, theatre, Halloween… anything involving a costume, you’re all over it. (Weird! And cool!) Or, that you are determined to make a new flavor of soft drink, and in your spare time, you combine different fruit juices and vegetable extracts and other ingredients. Or, you’re extremely obsessed with Asian pop music, and you’re a blond-haired blue-eyed Alabaman with an uncomfortable history of not-so-open-minded grandparents.

Conflict is interesting. Clashes are interesting. Surprises are interesting. Think about what your “resume” says. And then see if anything on your list of genuine hobbies or interests somehow draws a contrast to it or “adds dimensionality.” It’s boring when everything you do feels predictable. Think about the best books or movies. Did any of them lack conflict?

Oh, and as promised, for those of you who lined-out all ten possibilities, fret not. Either you can take another swing with an additional five. Or, you “un-cross-out” those ten and look at them another way. Instead of asking whether someone else may talk about these, ask yourself if your particular relationship with any item on your list is somehow unique. For example, yes, I’m a Marvel comic book geek just like a million others, but… not in the same way. My obsession is with … {insert unusual twist that dismantles the possibility that someone else will write about the same thing}. This way, you can write about something someone else might, but in a completely different – and surprising – way.

Once you lock the thing or things you’re gonna write about, here’s a way to structure it:

1. Two options for opening this sucker. You can either tell us about the thing straight away: What it is, what you do, how you got into it, why you like it, etc. Or, you can set up what kind of stuff your “busy schedule” is chock full of, and what’s MISSING that’s CRUCIAL TO UNDERSTANDING YOUR SOUL. This will SET UP your reveal for “the thing you do purely for pleasure.” Either way will work just fine. [40-70 words]
2. For Part II, you’ll wanna make mention of how this activity fits into your overall picture. Does this fill a void? Does it counterbalance something else? If you took this AWAY, what do you think would happen to your state of mind and emotional balance? Hopefully… something. This is your chance to identify what that something is, and explain it to us. [30-60 words]

Learn more and explore each step of MIT’s undergraduate application process here.

Harvard's Additional Essays 

Additional Information: Do not feel obligated to fill this space, but some students have used this opportunity to tell us about challenging circumstances in their lives such as illness or other difficulties that may have affected their grades. Any information that can tell us more about the person behind the test scores and grades can be helpful.

There’s a lot that’s special about Harvard. This essay isn’t one of those things. Harvard is giving us a very straightforward optional essay prompt here. The key thing to understand with any optional essay is this: If you submit an essay here, you are asking the admissions committee to take EXTRA time with your application. Do. Not. Waste. Their. Time. Every word we write under this prompt has to justify itself.

This is not the place to sneak in an extra extracurricular, or a story that wasn’t quite good enough for the main essay. Harvard tells us what they want to see here: “challenging circumstances… that may have affected [your] grades.” If your grades are perfect, it’s hard to imagine there being a need for you to complete this essay.

If your grades do have a blemish or two--more than an errant A-, a set of poor grades all connected to one issue--maybe we do write this essay. The magnitude of the challenge will define how much weight this essay carries. If you overcame a sniffle during an AP exam, that doesn’t say much about your character, and the essay won’t matter much. If you survived a serious car accident and only returned to school after many months of excruciating rehab--this essay could be the most important one in your entire application.

When writing, be as direct as possible. Identify the challenge, and why it was so challenging. Show us the impact it had on your academics. Then show the steps you took to get back on track. That last part is important! If the circumstances described here still apply to you, and would continue to impact your academics at Harvard, think carefully about how you frame them. We don’t want the adcom thinking “maybe this person should have taken another year or two before applying.”

Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard? (150 word limit)

We’ve got to be really careful here. To contribute to Harvard’s student body, and particularly to the diversity of that student body, you have to bring something to the table that is rare or unique. However, If you claim something as distinctive, and it’s actually very common in the application pool, it can backfire and reveal the extent to which you haven’t engaged with the world yet (through reading, exploring, etc.).

One straightforward way of going about this is focusing on life experiences that revolve around “something about you is different from others.” Let’s say you’ve been ostracized, marginalized, subdued somehow, outcast, excluded, or the like… it’s pretty hard for someone to argue with your case that there’s something distinct about you.

Is there a version that isn’t “negative”? Like, what if you’re quirky, and you know it, and everyone around you knows it, and you’ve never been made to suffer on account of it… sure, there’s a case to be made here. But, still, we need to see “proof” of this thing manifesting somehow. In other words, to use that tired old writing adage, “show don’t tell.” This goes for something like “intellectual interests” in particular. Show us that your version of an unusual intellectual interest is going to be a value-add to the Harvard community by showing us how it has been already in your high school community.

It’s a much harder case to make (and usually a weaker one) to say simply “hey so I’m interested in this weird thing, and man, trust me, it’s gonna blow the doors off the Harvard campus, just you wait!” It goes down better if you can say “so, I like this bizarre thing that everyone in my class thinks makes me a total lunatic. But lemme tell you this story. One day when I blah, this thing happened, and then everyone’s lives changed one day later. They still think I’m from planet Mars, but they’re also waiting for the next occasion when I XYZ.” If we see it in action, we’ll be able to imagine it impacting Harvard that much more. See how that works?

Is there something you do, by example, that is a part of you, that has impacted others throughout your life, that you intend to carry through in college… BECAUSE it has become an important part of who you are? Be careful not to be presumptuous here, and to assume that you possess something (a trait, a belief, etc.) that others simply MUST adopt because … well, that would make you seem unbelievably arrogant. A good version of a contribution is something someone made that YOU benefited from, that you are paying forward.

Describe a time when you strongly disagreed with someone about an idea or issue. How did you communicate or engage with this person? What did you learn from this experience? (150 word limit)

This is a very practical essay prompt. Harvard is all about intellectual ferment, and they want you to prove here that you can hang.

We want to reassure the adcom that you will be respectful and collegial on campus. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to behave that way in the example you provide here, however. “I was horrible and learned from it” can work. Similarly, the outcome of the disagreement can go any way. Maybe you convinced them, maybe they convinced you, maybe everyone kept their exact same position the whole time.

The most important part of this question is what you learned. So long as something about the disagreement changed the way you think, the way you communicate, or both, you’ve got a good topic for this essay.

Briefly describe any of your extracurricular activities, employment experience, travel, or family responsibilities that have shaped who you are. (150 word limit)

Briefly describe… yeah but, how, and to what end? If an extracurricular activity, as described on your activities lists or as a resume bullet, tells us everything we need to know about that experience, then great, skip that one. Find a bullet or list item that doesn’t NEARLY capture everything that’s cool about the experience.

Suppose you’re the captain of your volleyball team, but your achievements – while impressive in their own right – are still exactly the kind of things that we would expect a high school volleyball captain to have achieved. There’s little to be gained from elaborating on THAT one here. If, however, you overcame a physical injury in spectacular fashion, or an emotional obstacle against all odds, and ascended to captain level, that is PRECISELY the kind of story “captain of volleyball team” does not adequately convey. That experience shaped you in a way that deserves an explanation.

This is your opportunity to REVEAL something about your appetite for challenges, your risk-seeking nature, your fearlessness, your self-awareness, your unusual perspective, your unusual skill sets (and skill gaps). This is the place where you can “signal” meaningful indications of future success to the adcom. It begins with picking the right stuff to talk about.Then take a look at our SPARC framework and explore those facets of the experience.

How do you hope to use your Harvard education in the future? (150 word limit)

The big challenge with this prompt is avoiding a trite response. The reality is that many successful Harvard applicants are already on a well-trod high-achieving trajectory that ends up somewhere extremely predictable like finance, law, a PhD, or medical school. Even the details are likely unremarkable--in our relatively small slice of the total applicant pool, we still see multiple people each year looking to work at the same trendy companies post-graduation. It’s likely that your career goal by itself will not pique the adcom’s interest.

However, we can be creative with the role Harvard will play in that career. Imagine your future without Harvard. You’ve achieved exactly what you want, but without spending any time in Cambridge. Now compare that to a version of you that is in exactly the same position 20 years from now, but slouched around Harvard Square a bit. What makes “Harvard you” different from “generic Ivy you”? What can “Harvard you” do that “other you” can’t? What special tools does that version of you have, and how will you use them?

Top 3 things your roommate might like to know about you. (150 word limit)

This is a tricky one because the temptation is to write about three things you want “the admissions committee” to know about you. And so, we more often than not see forced, unimaginative first drafts. If you’re gonna live with someone (for only one year, mind you), a person who may or not be a friend, a person you may or may not interact with much AFTER first year… What would you want him/her to know about you? Well, you’d have to have a reason this person would want to know this, otherwise… what’s the point? Think of it this way, if your roommate were to NOT KNOW this thing about you… something could go wrong. (Rather than… it would be a missed opportunity.) Play with that version, see if it reveals something deeply personal.

Essay B: Why Stanford? (Recommended 350 words)

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

Same deal as Essay A, going to borrow some key words from Stanford: Your aspirations. Stanford.

• This is what I want to do—and here is why YOU should be excited about it. (This doesn’t require a ton of backstory or setup—some setup, yes—you need our buy-in. If your idea is uninspired, guess what, so too are “you.” Sell it. Give us just enough background and then in simple terms, walk us through your aspirations. With surgical efficiency.)
• I can’t get there by myself––skill set, network, etc. such as they are today. I will need a launch pad. An incubator. An environment and set of experiences and interactions that, when coupled with what I need, given who I am and what will bring out the best in me, will give me the *best* boost toward my goals.
• While many business schools, and especially many of the most elite business business schools will propel me in great and serviceable way, The Stanford GSB presents a unique opportunity to take that boosting effect and turbo charge it. These unique features of Stanford (compared to nearby competitors like HBS, Wharton, and the like) happen to suit me, as I am, and on my ascent to my goals, in a particularly desirable way. Let me walk you through a handful of salient examples of that so you can see for yourself how Stanford, unlike another program, has a unique opportunity to collide with me to propel me toward my goals, but also, how that interaction (Me + Stanford GSB) confers a benefit to Stanford at the same time.

That’s the essay. In a nutshell. That’s what we call “the subtext.” Underneath the actual stuff you write, those are the theme that must be communicated. Efficiently. You have roughly 350 words to make that case.

In order to crush this essay, you must understand Stanford and what they’re all about. This may take some research on your end, and this is what Stanford is hoping—that after a ton of research, you have determined that this place, unlike any other, is a better fit for you than any other program you may get into. Hint hint, including HBS, and Wharton, and CBS, and Sloan, etc. If your case for Why Stanford can be met by another M7 school (or worse, any other business school), dead on arrival.

To begin, you need to establish (1) where you’re headed and (2) what you need in order to get there. You can do this within 100 words, 75 even. Now for your remaining ~250 words, we have work to do. Your task is to make a case for why specific aspects of Stanford’s GSB––offerings, the culture, all of it––collide with you and your particular skills and needs, combine to make the best match of any conceivable match available to you. You + HBS may be good, but not as good as You + Stanford. Why? How exactly? You + Wharton, also great. You’ll be plenty successful with a Wharton degree. But what will be missing? What’s the delta between You + Any Other School and You + Stanford? This is not easy. But the folks who get in are able to nail it.

How to understand Stanford well enough to approach this? Sure, spend time on the website. But, table stakes. Read about the school elsewhere—articles, anything written by current or former students. Also table stakes. Talk to former students. Now we’re getting somewhere. Talk to current students, even more interesting. Visit the campus, more interesting still. Talk to anyone and everyone, do whatever it takes to gain perspectives that aren’t simply available to others. Why? Sure, to showcase that you made that effort. But also, that research is likely to yield insights that strengthen the specificity of your case for Stanford. Not just as an intellectual exercise, but hopefully on an emotional level as well. If, in the course of your research, you’re able to forge a kind of ‘it must be Stanford’ sense, and are able to observe and articulate why that confidence is deepening, in a way that goes far beyond what’s obvious to anyone paying attention that Stanford’s reputation precedes itself… now you’re getting somewhere.

The folks who do this sincerely, are able to execute here because the legwork lends itself to a kind of authenticity and credibility that cannot be faked by someone who hasn’t done the dig-deep research. You can tell. As a reader, you can just tell.

So many ways to engage—where there’s a will, there’s a way. Read stuff by current or former professors. Notice the trends of what kinds of professors came from Stanford. Notice what kinds of companies were started at Stanford. Get a sense. Now, whatever you do, please don’t think that there is a magical phrase or a set of classes you can name drop that will trigger a successful outcome. The demonstration of “fit” here is a wildly organic one. It’s in between the lines, never the lines themselves. Stanford’s assets have to match you in a way that won’t necessarily apply to the guy sitting next to you. This is the whole point about “individuality” and “uniqueness.” Stanford is curious to see how aspects of its program and culture uniquely affect your appetite for an MBA, or for your career goals. It’s not “mentioning a class,” folks. Or “a club.” Or “a professor’s name.” It’s much, much, much more than that.

It’s an argument. An argument that connects Stanford’s assets and offerings *to* you and your skills and capabilities, specifically. It’s not just that Stanford “has” X Y and Z. Stanford knows it has those things. What it doesn’t know is how those things will react with you specifically. Make us picture this, and show us how that collision will play out. You’ll need more than one example to sell it. Minimum two, three is a great target. Here’s your structure:

• This is what I hope to accomplish (not by way of job title, but define it in terms of the intended effect, and sell us on the virtues of that outcome.(50-75 words)
• Can’t get there today, here’s what I need, from an MBA program or otherwise. Define it in terms of fundamental ‘ingredients’ that are missing, or in need of development. (50-75 words)
• Now start explaining one by one, how specific aspects of Stanford create ‘chemical reactions’ with you and your needs. Take us through what will improve, how, why, and what unique aspect of the Stanford offering is worthy of making this list. (Remember, it can’t be something easily found or replicated elsewhere.) (50-75 words)
• Rinse and repeat (50-75 words, each one)
• In your final arguments, consider a more emotional argument about how you arrived at this confidence level, in a way that instils in you a feeling that can’t really be studied under a microscope. Why do you feel the GSB is your soulmate, and you theirs? (50-75 words)

Take that approach on your first stab, and that’ll give you a nifty rough draft that we can then take to the thrasher, and start working up to something that’s Adamantium-grade.

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (Recommended 650 words)

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

The ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ champs of b-school essay prompts. Either Stanford has struck gold on the two most perfect admissions questions - ever - to tease out exactly what they’re looking for, or, they canceled essays as a requirement and forgot to update the website. (How awesome would that be?)

This may be one of the hardest of all MBA application essays to write, and to write well. Why? Because it dares you to be authentic and then to risk that rawness - the actual you - being a needle-mover in the admissions decision. Not fun. If they reject you, it’s as if they’re saying “we’ve taken the measure of the real you - thank you for that by the way! - but it’s just not for us.” Here’s the strange Catch-22, and Stanford’s brilliance. The folks who are bold enough to take that risk are more likely aligned with the Stanford ethos, than those who may not naturally lean into this fully, and hold back, and attempt to say the thing they think will impress; in other words . . . hide.

This is easier said than done, and is far more complicated than “take the risk, be authentic, and you’ll be admitted to Stanford GSB!” But it’s a useful starting point. To surrender any fiber of yourself that inclines toward gaming this essay, outsmarting the readers, being too self-conscious of how your essays seems to someone else. These are all counterproductive impulses that we’d like to exorcize from anyone reading this.

Step 1: But what’s the real answer, though?

There’s the “what you might throw down on an application essay to Stanford GSB.” And then there’s the “answer that you know is actually, truly, true.” For most folks, these are two different things. For the folks who tend to get into Stanford GSB, they are far more aligned.

This isn’t an ‘authenticity’ contest, mind you. There’s more to it than that, but it’s an unbelievably important ‘foundation’ on which successful GSB applicants can start to build their answers.

As you begin tackling this question, metaphorically divide your ‘paper’ into two columns. In Column A, write down a what matters to you list that you think is likely to impress Stanford - just this once, allow yourselves to be mindful of what others might think, based on feedback you’ve gotten, your general sense of what may be relevant or of interest to an elite business school. Then in Column B, write down a few things that have nothing to do with business school, but simply answer that question as truly as you know how. What things, if absent, would render everything else meaningless? What things, if present, set the foundation for anything good to follow?

How big a gulf is there between the two sides? What connections might there be? Never start with Column A and try to shoehorn in themes from Column B. Do it the other way. Get in touch with your actual, authentic nerve center. Study your Column B responses. And figure out how those things underlie … everything, including your business aspirations. This is just a starting point. A nice calibration exercise before the real work begins!

Step 2: Consider what others might be writing about. ‘What kind of answer wins the day here?’ And then stop yourself immediately.

If you spend any time worrying about what someone else might be writing about, hoping that that might give you clues about what you should write about, you’re traveling down the wrongest of paths. It has absolutely nothing to with what others are writing about, but how they’re writing about it. Don’t misunderstand us here; this isn’t about writing skill. B-school essays are never about mastery of prose. The “how” here refers to the manner in which the successful candidates are able to introspect, walk around an experience, assess different points of view, offer new points of view, understand themselves keenly such that they will be effective leaders and practitioners of business in the future.