harvard mba essays 2021

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2024 Lincoln Lecture - A discussion with award-winning author Clint Smith

Thursday, September 12, 2024 7:30 PM

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595 College Ave, DeKalb, IL 60115

This conversation, moderated by Christina Abreu, Director of the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, draws on Smith’s 2021 book , How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2021.

Smith’s bestselling books include  How the Word Is Passed , which  Publishers Weekly  called “an essential consideration of how America’s past informs its present.” It has won numerous awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, and was named one of the best books of the year by  TIME ,  The New York Times ,  The Economist and  The Washington Post .

His latest book,  Above Ground , was named to  TIME  magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books and  NPR ‘s Books We Love. Smith’s first book,  Counting Descent , won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. In his forthcoming book,  Just Beneath the Soil , he will explore the little-known stories behind World War II sites and discuss how they shape our collective memory of the war.

His essays, poems, and scholarly writing have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine , The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, the Harvard Educational Review and elsewhere. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic .

The W. Bruce Lincoln Endowed Lecture Series brings to campus distinguished scholars who address topics of interest to both the academic community and the general public. The lectures engage key issues and are often interdisciplinary, in the spirit of Professor Lincoln’s research, writing and teaching.

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More From Forbes

The stories they tell: what successful mba admits tell harvard & stanford.

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The cover of the new book, What Matters? and What More?

Getting into the prestigious MBA programs at either Stanford Graduate School of Business or Harvard Business School are among the most difficult journeys any young professional can make.

They are two of the most selective schools, routinely rejecting nine or more out of every ten applicants. Last year alone, 16,628 candidates applied to both schools; just 1,520 gained an acceptance, a mere 9.1% admit rate.

Business school admissions are holistic, meaning that while standardized test scores and undergraduate transcripts are a critical part of the admissions process, they aren’t the whole story. In fact, the stories that applicants tell the schools in the form of essays can be a critical component of a successful application.

So what kinds of stories are successful applicants to Harvard and Stanford telling their admission officers? For the first time ever, a newly published collection of 50 of these essays from current MBA students at these two schools has been published. In ten cases, applicants share the essays they wrote in applying to both schools so you can see whether they merely did a cut-and-paste job or approached the task anew. The 188-page book, What Matters? and What More?, gains its title from the two iconic essay prompts at Harvard and Stanford.  

Stanford can easily boast having the most difficult question posed to MBA applicants in any given year: In 650 words or less, candidates must tell the school what matters most to them and why. Harvard gives applicants ample room to hang themselves, providing no word limit at all, “What more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?”

One makes this unusual collection of essays powerful are the thoughtful critiques by the founders of two MBA admissions consulting firms, Jeremy Shinewald of mbaMission and Liza Weale of Gatehouse Admissions. They write overviews of each essay in the book and then tear apart portions by paragraphs to either underline a point or address a weakness. The book became available to download this week for $60 a pop.

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As I note in a foreword to the collection, published in partnership with Poets&Quants, the essay portion of an application is where a person can give voice to who they are, what they have achieved so far, and what they imagine their future to be. Yet crafting a powerful and introspective essay can be incredibly daunting as you stare at a blank computer screen. 

One successful applicant to Harvard Business School begins his essay by conveying a deeply personal story: The time his father was told that he had three months to live, with his only hope being a double lung transplant. had to undergo a lung transplant. HIs opening line: “Despite all we had been through in recent years, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I asked my mother one summer evening in Singapore, ‘What role did I play during those tough times?’”

An analyst at one of the global consulting firms who challenged the odds of admission at Stanford got in with an essay that began with an anecdote that showed his frustration with his job. “I sat alone one Saturday night in a boardroom in Eastern Oregon, miles from home, my laptop lighting the room,” he wrote. “I was painstakingly reviewing a complex spreadsheet of household energy consumption data, cell by cell. ‘Why am I doing this to myself? For remote transmission lines?’...I felt dejected. I’d felt that way before, during my summer at JP Morgan, standing alone in the printing room at 3 a.m., binding decks for a paper mill merger that wouldn’t affect my life in the least.”

The point: He ultimately writes in a well-crafted essay about finding meaning in his work and a place where he can make a meaningful difference. That is what really matters most to him.

Yet another candidate, who applied to both Harvard and Stanford, writes about being at but not fully present at his friend’s wedding. “The morning after serving as my friend’s best man, I was waiting for my Uber to the airport and—as usual—scrolling through my phone,” he wrote. “I had taken seemingly hundreds of photos of the event, posting in real time to social media, but had not really looked through them. With growing unease, I noticed people and things that had not registered with me the night before and realized I had been so preoccupied with capturing the occasion on my phone that I had essentially missed the whole thing. I never learned the name of the woman beside me at the reception. I could not recall the wedding cake flavor. I never introduced myself to my friend’s grandfather from Edmonton. I was so mortified that before checking into my flight, I turned my phone off and stuffed it into my carry-on.”

The Stanford version of his essay is more compact. In truth, it’s more succinctly written and more satisfying because it is to the point. By stripping away all but the most critical pieces of his narrative, the candidate focuses his essay entirely on his central point: the battle of man versus technology.

Even if you’re not applying to business school, the essays are entertaining and fun to read. Sure, precious few are New Yorker worthy. In fact, many are fairly straightforward tales, simply told. What the successful essays clearly show is that there is no cookie-cutter formula or paint-by-the-numbers approach. Some start bluntly and straightforwardly, without a compelling or even interesting opening. Some meander through different themes. Some betray real personality and passion. Others are frankly boring. If a pattern of any kind could be discerned, it is how genuine the essays read.

The greatest benefit of reading them? For obsessive applicants to two of the very best business schools, they’ll take a lot of pressure off of you because they are quite imperfect.

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a publication by Harvard Business School students

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Between Two Classes: Alexandre Daillance

A New Collection Of 22 Essays That Got Applicants Into HBS

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Harvard Business School’s iconic Baker Library

After a three-year hiatus, the MBA students at Harvard Business School today published a new collection of admission essays written by successful applicants to HBS. The new guide, assembled by the editors of The Harbus , the school’s MBA student newspaper, includes 22 essays along with commentary by essay contributors and individual analyses from the newspaper’s editorial staff.

Harsha Mulchandani, a first-year MBA at Harvard and CEO of The Harbus , attributes the lapse of publishing what had been an annual MBA essay guide to other priorities for earlier editors of The Harbus along with a natural reluctance among many students to share their essays.

“People often feel that the essays are too personal and so it takes a lot of reaching out and multiple rounds of following up to get people to contribute essays,” says Mulchandani, who has also worked for The Boston Consulting Group. That’s despite the fact that The Harbus agrees to anonymize identities, cities, countries, and institutions to protect the identity of the authors.

ESSAYS FROM STUDENTS IN CLASSES OF 2020 & 2021

The Harbus MBA Essay Guide: Summer 2020 Edition features 22 actual essays written by successful MBA applicants

The summer 2020 edition of the MBA Essay Guide sells for $64.99 and can be instantly downloaded from the newspaper’s website (you can read three of the essays reprinted with permission from The Harbus at Poets&Quants). There also are higher-priced packages for prospective applicants who may want the latest version with the last guide published in the summer of 2017. Funds raised from the sale of the guides go to the non-profit Harbus which distributes its surplus to a charity at the end of the academic year.

The essays in the updated guide are from students in the classes of 2020 and 2021 and address the school’s current lone essay prompt: “As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program?”

Mulchandani, who says she bought a copy of the previous guide before applying to HBS from WestBridge Capital where she was an investment analyst in Bangalore, considers the it an invaluable to candidates of any of the highly selective business schools. “I was a fan of the guide before I was a student,” she says. “I was a user. I urged some of my friends who didn’t have guidance from an admissions consultant to buy a guide.”

‘SHE HAD JUST BEATEN MY SOLDIER WITH A FRYING PAN’

The editors note that the book is a “great resource to help you figure out how you want to write your story in a way that is personal and gives the reader a glimpse into your world. Reading the enclosed essays will show you how the admitted students approached the question in creative ways.”

If anything, the collection shows that you don’t need the skills of a New Yorker writer to craft an effective essay. Few of the pieces are especially eloquent, though there are some rather fetching openers. Example: “Why? It is a seemingly simple question, but often one of the most challenging and uncomfortable to answer. It’s the question every entrepreneur asks before coming up with a disruptive solution. It’s the question Newton asked the day a falling apple changed physics forever.”

And there are lines, for sure, that grab one’s attention. “I never imagined my first duty as an Army Officer would be to pick up a soldier from jail after a domestic violence dispute. But there I was at the military police station, confronted by an angry Army wife who had just beaten my soldier with a frying pan.”

‘WRITING THE APPLICATION WAS THERAPY’

Harsha Mulchandani, CEO of The Harbus & a first-year MBA at Harvard

The upshot: Reading this collection would likely liberate applicants from at least some anxiety over facing a blank screen on their computers. Some of the essays are informal; others are little more than talking resumes. They are generally free of grammatical errors and typos, though many are not as clear nor concise as they could be.

Sometimes, more helpful than the essay itself are the perspectives or advice from the applicants. One Israeli student who had worked in the tech industry revealed that for him writing the application was therapy. “Revisiting my life in general, and my career path in particular, I tried to find what were some different factors that played as main drivers to my decision,” he wrote. “I had a good friend with whom I held lengthy conversations, and who helped find the link, or the motif, between some of the stories. This link became my narrative. After writing a few drafts, I hired a proofreader to polish the essay, as I am not a native speaker. The next phase was to send out the essay to alumni friends and acquaintances that were kind enough to provide me with feedback. I put less emphasis on why MBA made the most sense to me, and more on my personal journey, leading the adcom to see themselves from my writing.”  

Some 15 of the 22 essays were written by candidates who lived in the U.S., two from India, and one each from Brazil, Greece, Israel, Netherlands, and Russia. The authors worked in a wide variety of industries, from consumer products and tech to i-banking and consulting. There are a pair of essays from successful applicants to Harvard’s 2+2 deferred admissions program. And women were clearly more generous in sharing their essays than men: 14 of the essays were written by women versus the eight by men.

‘A RETAIL LEADER FROM WILLY WONKA’S CHOCOLATE FACTORY’

Each essay boasts an often catchy headline written by the editors, including “Master of Your Destiny,” “Dancing With The Stars,” “A Retail Leader from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,” and “Beauty and the Beholder,” the last of which is reprinted by Poets&Quants under arrangement with The Harbus . It is also a personal favorite of Mulchandani, who with her classmates played a major role in assembling the guide and getting it published.

The editors also parcel out some basic, if worthwhile, advice to would-be applicants. “First, begin your writing process with a period of honest reflection about your motivations, goals and choices to date,” the guide advises. “Secondly, seek out feedback on drafts of your essay from people who know you well. Others can tell you whether your essay is clear, but only people who know you well can tell you whether your essay really brings out YOU.”

The essay, of course, is just one of many parts of a successful application to a business school. Many would argue that a candidate’s grade point average or standardized test score looms larger in the scheme of things as does whether an applicant went to a feeder college or worked for a feeder company.

Asked if she could estimate how important the essay is to an admit at Harvard Business School, Mulchandani believes it would be impossible to assign a weight to it. “It is no more or no less important than the other elements of your application,” she believes. “It is seen as a package. I could not put a number to it if I wanted to because that would not be factual. But it is one of the critical elements that can help you in the process.

‘IT’S IMPORTANT TO SEE ALL THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE’

“Everything else in the application is where you lay out facts,” adds Mulchandani. “And this is where you get the chance to tell a story. Stories are the most well-accepted form of communication. Putting a story out there that speaks to who you are makes it one of the most important elements. It adds another element that is really important and is a part of your personality.”

That view was reinforced when she did her 30-minute interview with an HBS admissions officer that ultimately led to her acceptance. “I felt that in my interview at least 70% to 80% of the questions were based on my essay. The stories I spoke about were the stories that were emphasized in the interview. In that sense, it bleeds into other elements of your application. So it’s important to see all the pieces of this puzzle.”

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Content Curator

When it comes to taking admission at Harvard , there are very rigid application requirements that the candidate has to abide by. It is quite anticipated of a university ranking 3rd globally to lay down some austere requirements for candidates aspiring to secure a seat. Harvard Business School MBA essay asks the applicants to achieve a high TOEFL score, a high IELTS score or any other trusted English language proficiency test. Apart from that, it also asks them to submit an articulated Harvard MBA application essay.

A Harvard MBA essay is sometimes synonymous with a giant’s task since it requires the person to write not only about themselves in simplified words but also in a steadfast manner. Since the successful Harvard MBA essays often catch the admission committee’s attention, a few of the advisable Harvard MBA essay tips have been explained here.

Harvard MBA Essay Analysis

With the help of one of the Harvard MBA application essays sample, we have placed an illustration:

Question: While we are in the process of monitoring your application, what else would you like to add to push your application through the Harvard Business School MBA program?

The approach to these kinds of Harvard MBA essay questions should be done keeping in mind that Harvard tends to be inclined towards leadership traits as its motto states it. It should be noted that the question focuses on what more can the applicant provide in their Harvard MBA essay format apart from the already mentioned information in their application forms, resume, and academic transcripts. It is here that the candidates go through the other application requirements and identify the details they’ve not provided to avoid overlapping. Though, it should be noted that the candidates can stress their achievements in their Harvard MBA essay length.

Harvard MBA sample essays show how the university doesn’t choose the ones who are mistake-free as they normalize the fact of committing errors. Therefore, apart from the straightway victories, don’t give second thoughts in discussing an error. Harvard MBA sample essays show how the candidates who have illustrated how their failures have taught life lessons or have helped them evolve into better human beings are appreciated by Harvard. Coming to the Harvard MBA essay word limit, one can write a 500 – 750 words article or 800 – 1000.

Harvard MBA Essay Tips

Here are a few of the Harvard MBA essay tips to successfully secure a chance in 2021:

• Overwriting sometimes ruins the flow of the essay and it is mainly caused by over-thinking. Proofreading and structuring is the basic rule that should be followed;
• Brainstorming is extremely necessary but never rule out on any point considering it insignificant for the Harvard admission committee, or reconsidering the point thinking if this is exactly what they need to know;
• One needs to know that the essay doesn’t require creativity or academic excellence but bringing out the leadership and analytical traits in the essay is what is needed;
• Refrain from impressing the admission committee with the word ‘leadership’ in every sentence. You are supposed to gain their appreciation through personal experiences and not the world.
• Sticking to topics related to ‘why MBA’ and ‘goals’ are not much of use as you will already be touching them in other application details;
• Take an en route to state how you’ve aspired to study at Harvard and develop your career. Though they don’t ask the question there is no harm in starting your aspiration;
• Beginning or ending the essay with explicit statements would create a mark of boredom and redundancy in the minds of the Admission Committee.

A few words from the MD of the MBA Admissions and financial aid – Chad Losee:

“Amidst all the uncertainty globally, we plan to minimize changes in our application process this year. We understand that these are difficult times globally and that many of you have been affected personally by the pandemic. Please know that we always review applications holistically and understand that many plans, employment opportunities, and personal situations have been disrupted by COVID-19. Of course, we will take this most unusual of times into account as we evaluate your application .”

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10 Successful Harvard Application Essays | 2020

Our new 2022 version is up now.

Our 2022 edition is sponsored by HS2 Academy—a premier college counseling company that has helped thousands of students gain admission into Ivy League-level universities across the world. Learn more at www.hs2academy.com . Also made possible by The Art of Applying, College Confidential, Crimson Education, Dan Lichterman, Key Education, MR. MBA®, Potomac Admissions, Prep Expert, and Prepory.

I am standing behind my high school when a snowball pelts my side with a thud and splatters across my jacket, covering me with a fine, icy dust. My bewildered eyes trace the snowball’s trajectory until they fall upon a pair of snickering hoodlums crouched behind a small mountain of snowballs. They must have been waiting all afternoon for an unsuspecting student to walk by, and perhaps for emphasis, one of the boys looks me in the eye and raises a grimy middle finger. Quickly, I mold a handful of snow into a sphere with cupped hands and cock my arm back.

I haven’t thrown anything in a while, but muscle memory guides me through the requisite motions. I played softball for eight years, and my athletic strength was always my throwing arm; in fifth grade, when my coach asked me to throw the ball from third to first, I hurled the ball with such force that the catch knocked him off-balance. Upon entering high school, it seemed natural that I would play on the school’s softball team.

However, my body had other ideas. Throughout middle school I’d developed increasingly painful body aches, and in freshman year I awoke one morning with a brutal headache penetrating the crown of my head and the bones of my face as though a vice had been clamped to my skull overnight. After consulting more doctors than I can remember, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic widespread pain and extreme sensitivity to touch. My neurologist describes fibromyalgia as “headache of the body.” Personally, I favor my father’s description; after one particularly painful and exhausting day he aptly proclaimed, “Fibromyalgia is your body’s way of giving you the finger.”

Agonizing muscle cramps mocked me constantly, preventing me from walking longer than five minutes without growing exhausted. The pressure above my eyes sneered at me whenever I attempted to read or write. Even after I found medications to temper the headaches just enough so I could return to school with sporadic attendance, sharp pains gnawed at my body with haughty derision if I even thought about returning to the softball fields and the activities I loved.

For months I tried to ignore the cruel obscenities fibromyalgia hurled my way, steadfastly believing the pain would soon subside and I would achieve everything I had planned for myself if I simply disregarded the taunting aches and worked doggedly to catch up at school. But when softball season arrived, it became apparent that while determination and intelligence could preserve my GPA in the face of fibromyalgia, there was no personal attribute or skill that could heal my body and allow me to join my teammates on the field.

It was time to confront the beast.

In doing so, I kept in mind the schoolyard aphorism that there is strength in numbers. I did not face fibromyalgia alone, but with mathematics by my side. Baseball is a game of statistics, and if fibromyalgia threatened to steal the sport I loved through physical deterioration, I would outsmart this insolent illness and reclaim ownership of baseball through intellectual pursuits. I began a mathematical research project, analyzing the effectiveness of current baseball statistics, as well as deriving my own.

Fibromyalgia forced me to redefine my goals and personal standards for success. This baseball project was my first step toward reclaiming my life and laying the foundation for victory over my illness. As calculations replaced pitching drills, my passion for baseball was channeled into a burgeoning love of science and math. Hours I had previously devoted to softball became filled with scientific journals and books, and summers I used to spend at athletic camps were devoted to research at local universities. Baseball provided a link to my pre-fibromyalgia life at a time when I desperately needed one, and through baseball I realized that if I wanted to beat fibromyalgia, I could not simply hope it would disappear overnight. Whether I modified my medications or adapted my schedule, I needed to devise my own way to face fibromyalgia’s antagonizing aches head-on.

So when that taunting rascal waves his middle finger in my direction, my cheeks do not flush with angry humiliation and my legs do not run away, but my hands mold a snowball and my arm pulls back. As I follow through with my throw, pain radiating up my arm, I know instantly that I will pay for this exertion in the morning. But my icy comeback hits the sniggering boy squarely in the chest, knocking him backward into the snow as his accomplice’s mouth lies agape in shock.

Well. I guess I’ve still got it.

Sarah's story opens with a vivid anecdote of being pelted by a snowball that brings the reader to the scene of the crime with detailed sensory descriptions. She skillfully ties the story to her talent for athletics, which in turn leads to her struggle with fibromyalgia and howin the face of physical limitation she redirected her passions to science and math. The story comes full circle and ties together nicely at the end with the conclusion of the snowball scene, which leaves the reader feeling victorious and vindicated for Sarah, as well as proud of her determination.

Sarah manages to cover a lot in this essay. The personal statement is an evident combination of overcoming obstacles and discovering academic passions, and also discreetly includes résumé- worthy accomplishments, such as her own mathematical research project on baseball statistics and summer research at local universities. What is important about her personal statement is that she goes beyond the résumé and gives the admissions officers a look at her character and personal struggle. Even though her essay is a bit long, Sarah does not waste a word and ensures that every detail she includes contributes in some way to the overall message she is trying to convey about herself. Rather than simply evoking sympathy for her situation, Sarah weaves humor and a cheeky attitude throughout her narrative. She introduces her love of mathematics with a creative twist on the common saying, “strength in numbers," and affectionately alludes to her father's depiction of fibromyalgia as "your body's way of giving you the finger."

Her vivacious and tenacious personality shines through in her colorful and descriptive language, painting a clear picture of Sarah as a determined person who doesn't let a chronic illness defeat her and instead finds another passion.

I look over at the digital clock at the front of the bus just as the time changes to 8:30. The engine begins to rumble, the seat begins to shake, and the bus slowly pulls onto Route 6 and heads toward JPA—the Jay Pritzker Academy—near Siem Reap, Cambodia. The bus is alive with chatter. Peace Corps volunteers trade stories about their experiences in their assigned villages; international schoolteachers discuss their plans for the day’s lessons. I overhear one of the Peace Corps volunteers, Deidre, say, “I have to say, the Peace Corps offers incredible health care. They medevaced me to Bangkok when I got dengue fever.”

Today, I find myself unable to join the conversation. I stare blankly at the blue cloth seat in front of me, trying to gently coax my knotted stomach out of my throat. All I can think about is the empty seat beside me and the uncomfortable feeling of entering uncertain territory alone.

My friend and co-teacher, Shahriyar, is in the Angkor Hospital recovering from a serious bout of amoebic dysentery. I visited him yesterday. He was lying in bed with his summer reading in his right hand and an IV in his left. Looking pale and exhausted, he weakly lifted his head and greeted me. “I don’t know if you know this yet,” he said, “but I’m flying home tomorrow. Are you coming with me?” Though the news didn’t surprise me, the question caught me off guard. As I left the hospital room, I couldn’t help but think how easily this could have been me in his situation.

The bus drives over a speed bump faster than it should have, and I’m jolted back to the present. I try to take my mind off Shahriyar and look out the window at the world around me. Everything is so much different than it is in Deerfield, yet it all somehow feels very natural to me. To my left I see an elderly woman wearing a mask sweeping dust off the street; I smile at her, but she doesn’t notice. As the bus gets closer and closer to JPA, the fact that I will have to teach today’s lessons by myself begins to set in. I wonder if I’m physically capable of teaching three hours of class by myself in the ninetydegree heat and 90 percent humidity. In the past, Shahriyar and I had always taken turns leading the class, giving each other a few moments to rest and rehydrate while the other taught. A part of me is afraid to do it. I’ve never had to lead the class without the comfort and support of having Shahriyar by my side. As I think about the challenges I will face, I realize how easy it would be to turn back. I only have to call Sokun—a local tuk-tuk driver and he’d take me to the airport. Knowing my co-teacher has become seriously ill, nobody would think less of me if I went home today.

As I sit in my seat, planning my trip home, the bus slows nearly to a stop and then turns onto a narrow red dirt road. I’ve suddenly plunged into a new world. The mess of worn-down concrete buildings and mopeds gives way to miles of flooded rice paddies stretching as far as I can see. Every few hundred yards I see boys and young men working barefoot in the fields. The bamboo huts that dot the landscape make me think back to my visit to the house of one of my students, Dari. I remember looking into his room and seeing a wooden table on his dirt floor. Close by, a bamboo shelf was filled with books. The globe he had won for being on the Honor Roll was proudly displayed on the bookshelf among his prized possessions. Smiling ear to ear, he told us that JPA was the best thing in his life. I realize that it really is too late to go home. I’ve already fallen in love with my students.

As the bus pulls into JPA’s driveway, the rest of the teachers begin gathering their materials. I remain seated, deep in thought. “Are you coming?” I hear a familiar voice ask me. I look up and see Deidre looking at me.

“Of course I am.”

In essays about community service, it is easy to fall into the trap of self-aggrandizement— emphasizing your own personal sacrifices and good deeds and in the process making yourself look like someone more interested in self-service than community service. Josh’s essay, on the other hand, steers well clear of this pitfall, skillfully conveying compassion, humility, and devotion to the people with and for whom he works—he does not stay on because he pities his students, but because he loves them. As a result, instead of coming off like résumé padding, Josh’s work feels motivated by a genuine desire to do good.

Structurally, Josh’s essay is solid—it traces the trajectory of his thought process from uncertainty to renewed resolve. This seemingly straightforward story arc is enlivened by choice details and images—the off-hand conversation about dengue fever in the first paragraph, for example, adds a good jolt of surprise, and the descriptions of the Cambodian countryside are vivid and well-executed. The passage detailing Josh’s visit to his student Dari’s home is one of the essay’s highlights, a scene that is both believable as the essay’s “inspiration moment” and memorable for the deep empathy it contains.

While it’s true that Josh has the advantage of a rather unique experience—not every Harvard applicant is in a position to write their personal statement about volunteering with the Peace Corps— the main strengths of his essay are certainly translatable beyond this context. Josh’s essay is a personal statement at its best: it not just narrates an experience but hints at deeper elements of his personality and expresses them in a way that does not come off as forced. Someone reading Josh’s essay can tell that his volunteering experience was far more to him than résumé fodder. And as the admissions office gets deluged with more and more applications every year, this spark of sincerity goes very far indeed.

I sat under the table, burying my head tightly in my folded arms, while the other children sat on the carpet, listening to the teacher’s story. The language barrier was like a tsunami, gurgling with strange and indistinguishable vocalizations. Elementary school wasn’t as fun as I expected at all.

Hearing a whisper, I raised my head up, only to notice a boy’s face merely inches away. I bolted up in surprise, my head colliding gracefully with the underside of the table. Yelping in pain, I noticed that the entire class was staring at me.

That was the story of how I met my first friend in Canada.

That boy, Jack, came to visit me during my lonely recesses. It was rather awkward at first—I could only stare at him as he rambled on in English. But it was comforting to have some company.

From there, our friendship blossomed. Our initial conversations must have been hilarious to the hapless bystander. Jack would speak in fluent English while I spurted sentence after sentence of Mandarin. It was like watching tennis—rallies of English and Mandarin back and forth. But I learned quickly, and in no time I was fluent.

Jack also showed me the ropes of Western culture. Heaven knows how embarrassing my birthday party would’ve been if he hadn’t told me about those so-called “loot-bags” beforehand.

Today, I volunteer at a community service agency for new immigrants where I work with children. I do it because I understand the confusion and frustration of dealing with a strange and sometimes hostile environment; I remember how it feels to be tangled up in an amalgam of unfamiliar words and sounds. And so I teach them; I give seminars on reading, writing, and speaking skills as well as Western culture, history, and sometimes, a bit of social studies.

But I strive to do more than just that. I try to be a friend—because I remember how Jack helped me. I organize field trips to the science center, the museum, and the symphony: double-whammy trips where children can have fun while improving their literacy skills.

Through these experiences, I try to understand each of them as unique individuals—their likes, dislikes, pet peeves, background.

Everyone needs a guiding light through the lonesome process of adaptation, a friendly bump to lift them from the dark shroud of isolation. That’s what Jack did for me—with a rather painful bump to the head—and it’s also what I do for these immigrant children.

My hope is that, one day, these children will also feel compelled to do the same, helping others adapt to an unfamiliar environment. With this, we can truly create a caring and cohesive network of support for the children of our society.

Lucien's essay depicts a personal connection with his community service activity and provides the why to an extracurricular that probably shows up college application. He starts off with an endearing anecdote of meeting his first friend in Canada and connects the encounter to his current passion, then delves even deeper by concluding with self- reflection and a bigger goal for society that he hopes to achieve. His personal statement gives the reader a glimpse at his background and assimilation into a new culture, and how his qwn experience as an immigrant motivates him to help other immigrants adapt to life in a new place.

The strengths of this essay lie in the vivid and charming recounting of his first encounter with Jack, his first friend in a foreign new environment, and how he uses that story to explain his passion for volunteering. He connects his community service to a bigger goal at the end of the essay that leaves the reader feeling inspired, and alludes to his thoughts, hopes, and dreams. There is a tone of humility and humor as he depicts how he met his first friend by bumping his head under the table, and makes a motif out of the head bump by referring to it again later when he's talking about helping other immigrant children. He modestly credits his noble deeds at the community service agency to meeting his first friend, and humbly reveals his hope that his own good deeds will inspire others to pay it forward. He does a good job of exhibiting his accomplishments in community service without sounding like he's bragging.

Lucien could also make the essay more memorable and distinctive by including anecdotes of his experiences at the community service agency where he gave seminars and organized field trips. He denotes his volunteering responsibilities in list form, which can seem a bit impersonal and résumé- like. For example, he mentions how he tried to understand the people he helped, but does not include how he goes about doing this, or whether learning about those unique individuals contributed to his experience. Adding a story of how he changed the lives of the immigrants he helped would enhance his message and create a fitting parallel with the anecdote of how Jack helped him as he assimilated only one line on the activities portion of his into Western culture. Overall, Lucien combines humor with humility and leaves the reader feeling inspired.

I think the most tragic part of my childhood originated from my sheer inability to find anything engraved with my name. I never had a CHAFFEE license plate on my hand-me-down red Schwinn. No one ever gave me a key chain or coffee mug with the beautiful loops of those double Fs and Es. Alas, I was destined to search through the names; longingly staring at the space between CHAD and CHARLOTTE hoping one day a miracle would occur. Fortunately, this is one of the few negative aspects of a name like “Chaffee Duckers.”

My name has always been an integral part of my identity. Sure, it sounds a bit like my parents created it from a bag of Scrabble tiles, but it comes from a long-lost ancestor, Comfort Chaffee. Now it’s all mine. In my opinion, a name can make or break a person. The ability to embody a name depends on the individual. My greatest goal in life is to be the kind of unique person deserving of a name so utterly random and absurd.

I began my journey in preschool. Nothing about me screamed normal. I was not prim, proper, and poised. I preferred sneaking away from my preschool classroom, barefoot, in the purple velvet dress I wore every single day to resting obediently during nap time.

I grew up in a family akin to a modified Brady Bunch. Stepsisters, half sisters, stepbrothers, and stepparents joined my previously miniscule household. But in a family of plain names like Chris, Bill, John, Liz, Katherine, and Mark, I was still the only Chaffee.

I was a bit of a reverse black sheep in my family. My name helped me carve an identity separate from my myriad of siblings. Instead of enriching my brain with Grand Theft Auto, I preferred begging my parents to take me to the bookstore. While my parents mandated homework time for my brothers, they never questioned my work ethic or wiretapped my assignment notebook. The thing that set me apart from the herd was that I was self-disciplined enough to take control of my own life. From the very beginning I never depended on my parents’ help or motivation to finish my schoolwork. Putting school first came naturally to me, much to the distaste and confusion of my siblings. My work ethic became known as the patented “Chaffee Method.”

As I got older, I began to embody my name more and more. I didn’t want to be that girl with the weird name in the back of the class eating her hair, so I learned how to project my ideas in both written and spoken forms. I was often picked to lead classroom discussions and my complete disregard for making a fool of myself bolstered that skill. The manner in which I operate academically is perfectly described as Chaffee-esque; including but not limited to elaborate study songs, complex pneumonic devices, study forts, and the occasional John C. Calhoun costume.

I take pride in the confusion on a person’s face when they first read my name. Seeing someone struggle over those two unfamiliar syllables fills me with glee. I feel as though I am adding a new word to their vocabulary. So on my last day as a page in the U.S. Senate, I prepared myself for the anticipated awkward stumbling as Senator Harry Reid thanked me by name in his closing address. But the stumble never came. I felt very humbled by his perfect pronunciation. Perhaps Chaffee is actually catching on!

Chaffee’s essay is strong because it follows a clear narrative, all enabled by her rather unusual name. While not everyone has a name as unique as “Chaffee,” and are therefore unable to use this approach, writing an essay about an experience or aspect of one’s life that is singular to oneself is a smart approach for any college essay. She shapes her development from preschool to high school in the lens of her name, demonstrating the importance that it has played throughout her life.

Chaffee’s initial anecdote immediately grips the reader; many people have shared the experience of looking for engraved merchandise, and the fact that she can find none bearing her name sets the stage for the rest of the essay. Chaffee quickly qualifies her discontent with her name, stating that this anecdote “is one of the few negative aspects of a name like ‘Chaffee Duckers.’” Unfortunately this qualification is a bit misplaced since she immediately returns to tell a story of her upbringing while failing to address any of the positive aspects of her name until paragraphs later. This is a bit of hedging that isn’t entirely necessary in the limited space allowed by most personal statements.

Yet, the essay works quite well. Chaffee spends a great deal of time elaborating on how she was different from both her family and others with examples of her transgressions in preschool and her penchant for schoolwork and education as opposed to procrastination or video games like Grand Theft Auto. Chaffee toots her own horn just a little bit when describing the merits of her work ethic, but it is still fairly endearing overall, and there is no shame in sharing a desire for learning. Chaffee states in the conclusion of her essay that she now takes “pride in the confusion on a person’s face,” as they try to read her name, demonstrating how she has now accepted and come to appreciate the fact that she does not share a name with the average Mary, Dick, or Jane.

“Let’s face it, you’re slow,” my violin teacher said.

He was, as always, complaining that running was detracting from my practice time.

That summed up what running had always meant to me, ever since I was a seventh grader, choosing his sport for the first time. I was fine and content, however. I always had Jeffrey and Archie, classmates like me who ran slowly. We were good friends. We laughed together; we raced together; we pushed each other, and endured tough workouts together. But after middle school the people I trained with went on to do things they were better at. I remained, even though I was not good enough to be considered for varsity.

High school running was hell. I struggled with workouts, most of which I had to run alone. In the hot, dry days of autumn, I often coughed on the dust trails left by my teammates as they vanished into the distance. During the workouts, I got passed incessantly, almost getting run over on occasion. It hurt not to be important; to be dead weight for the team. I looked forward to the next year, when I could hopefully run with the incoming freshmen.

It didn’t happen that way. Even a year later, I was still the slowest on the team. How could the freshmen who had snored off the whole summer beat me, a veteran from middle school and high school with decent summer training? I nevertheless reconsidered the effectiveness of my training, and looked forward to getting “back in shape.” It was only after my condition had been deteriorating steadily for a few weeks that I began to feel a new level of humiliation. I started to have trouble keeping up with old ladies in the park, and each day I worked frantically to prevent the discovery of that fact by my teammates, running toward the sketchy areas of the ramble, in the south, where there’s barely anybody. My mother, worried about the steady deterioration of my condition, contacted a doctor.

I was anemic.

The doctor prescribed a daily iron pill, and the results were exhilarating. I joked that I was taking steroids. I sunk into endless oxygen. I got tired less. During the workouts, I felt more machine than man. Iron therapy taught me something fundamental. It reminded me why I was running; why I had stuck to this damn sport for four straight years. When I was anemic, I struggled to gather what little motivation I had for those painfully slow jogs in those parks. Putting the effort in, and seeing the dramatic results fooled my mind like a well-administered placebo. Iron therapy was the training wheels that would jump-start my dramatic improvement.

It took four months—four months of iron pills, blood tests, and training—to get back to my personal best: the 5:46 mile that I had run the year before. Early February that year, the training wheels came off. I was running close to seven miles a day on my own. But I wasn’t counting. I could catch a light. I could walk as many stairs as I wanted without getting tired. I was even far ahead of where I was the year before. After two and a half years as a 5:50 miler, I finally had a breakthrough race. I ran a 5:30. I asked coach if I could eventually break 5 minutes. He told me to focus more on maintaining my fitness through spring break.

I ran the mile again, this time outdoors. Coach had me seeded at a 5:30. I ran the first lap, holding back. I didn’t want to overextend myself. I hoped to squeeze by with a 5:35. The euphoria was unprecedented as I realized by the second lap that I was a dozen seconds ahead and still holding back. I finished with a 5:14.

On the bus ride back from the meet, one of my long-standing dreams came true. I pretended to ignore Coach sitting next to me, but he kept on giving me glances. He was excited about my time. We talked a lot about the race. We talked about my continuous and dramatic improvement. He said it was early in the season and that I would break 5 minutes after only a few weeks of training.

Six weeks later, Mr. Song, my chemistry teacher, asked me if I had broken 5 minutes for the mile yet. I told him all about how I had run in three meets over the past month and had failed to break 5:15 on every one of them. I told him that 5 minutes was now for me a mirage in the distance. Mr. Song, however, did not show much concern: “You’re just overtrained. Once you ease up before the big meet, you’ll drop in time once more.”

Even though these consoling words were from the man who had baffled my nutritionist when he had guessed that I was anemic, I still doubted his wisdom. On Sunday, I would run the mile once. My last mile of the year. This was it. Using my tried-and-true racing strategy, I finished with a 5:02, a 12- second drop in time. Mr. Song’s predictions had again turned out to be correct.

Before I was anemic, the correlation between hard work and success was something that only appeared in the cliché success stories of the talented few. Now, I am running more mileage than I ever have before. And my violin teacher still complains.

But I smile. I know it’s going somewhere.

John opens this essay by illustrating the iconic “grabber” done well: simple, unexpected, and leaving the reader wanting more. Is he actually “slow” at the violin (but that doesn’t quite make sense, does it)? We then learn all about John’s true passion: running.

Although challenging (and not to mention the fact that he always finishes last), John has stuck with running for many years. Eventually, his “slowness” deteriorates to the point where he needs medical intervention and finds his kryptonite: iron. This magic mineral allows him to heal, excel in his running, and ultimately exceed his wildest expectations by almost breaking the 5-minute mark by a few seconds.

The themes that permeate this essay are perseverance and tenacity: that all-powerful “grit” that distinguishes this student. John guides us through his story through the lens of his infallible work ethic. Even though he did not reach his exact goal, he is seconds away from it, and the reader knows he will keep pushing to achieve it.

As a reader, I would love to hear more about what happens next. Is there another instance that demonstrates John’s persistence or has he applied this newfound confidence and self-awareness to other aspects of his life? This self-reflection section is the most important element of the essay as it allows admissions readers a window into what drives a student. It is important to develop this and “show” the evidence of how the student has changed or what they have learned from this experience.

As the essay culminates, John makes us smile as he smiles (even though his violin teacher is still not too happy with him). We know John has learned to appreciate the beauty of the journey rather than the destination and we are just thrilled for him!

Soft Wooden Heart

The backbone of my life is my writing desk. I like to describe its surface as an organized mess (despite my parents’ overdramatized description of a bomb site), a state of positive entropy and minimum energy. Math exercises overlap an organizer, set next to almost-empty tubes of paint and overdue library books. A constantly filled bottle of water sits behind a glasses’ case full of guitar picks, and carved into a mountain of paper, right in the middle, is a space reserved for my laptop—on days when I am slouching, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare needs to be slid under it. An eclectic desk shows an eclectic personality; mine has had the honor of being the training grounds prior to the Great (final) Battle (exam) of Chemistry, the peaceful meadow of relaxed reading afternoons, and all in all the pristine-turned-colorful canvas of an inquisitive mind.

I remember buying it with my mother five years ago, when my bruised knees protested against the tiny white-paint-gone-yellow one I had used since childhood. My new desk was made of native Rimu heartwood—solid, resilient, dependable—a perfect role model for me to grow into. Over the years, its material became representative of my New Zealand identity, its surface slowly coated in quirky personality, and its compartments filled with treasured memories; the heartwood desk echoed my heart.

At first, it did not fit with the decor of the rest of my room, which even now appears boxy and stark next to my grandiosely elegant writing desk, but its quiet strength is unafraid of individuality, just as I have learned to become. It has watched as I grew stronger branches, a straighter trunk, firmer roots; whereas I had once been but a shy young seedling, I sprouted leaves and with them the ability and yearning to provide shade for others. I have certainly physically grown into it, but although I would like to think that I have become completely independent, I remain human; in inevitable times of need, it is still my steadfast, sturdy desk that offers its support.

I sit here and, well, I write: joyfully, desolately, irately, wistfully—at times paralyzed by excitement, at others crippled by fear. I scrawl notes in my organizer (which is, naturally, not in the least organized), words overflow my blog, overemotional oranges and blues plague my illustrations; shallow scratch marks indent the wood from where I have pressed too passionately into paper. It may be solid, but it is elastic enough to be shaped, resilient enough to adapt: This is my soft wooden heart.

It can take it. My desk remains constant despite scars of experience—unassuming, stoic, ever watchful. Even when I dismembered dying cell phones, their frail key tones pleading for mercy, the desk stood there, nonchalant. Regardless of what fervor goes on from time to time, it knows there will eventually be a constant calm; my lively nest of rebuilt mobiles still calls this place home. Sometimes, I rest my uncertain head on its reassuring solid surface and the wood presses back into my heartbeat, communicating in Morse: “Don’t worry. Some things will never change.”

And, like a mother, it always turns out to be right. Beneath my seemingly chaotic coat of papers and objects; beneath the superfluous, temporary things that define my present life, my desk and my heart remain still—solid, stable, and evergreen, ready to be written onto and scratched into by experience.

Winnie’s piece shows us that a meaningful essay doesn’t have to be about a major accomplishment or a painful personal experience; oftentimes, the most inspired writing can evolve from something as simple and unexpected as a writing desk. Winnie’s essay is successful because it invites readers into her world, where we discover a smart, unique, and self-aware young woman. Through her “eclectic” desk, we see her interest in the arts, her academic prowess, and her challenges with procrastination. We glimpse her pride in her heritage, her struggles with self-doubt, and her faith in herself to adapt to change and embrace new experiences. By the final sentence, we feel that if we heard Winnie’s voice in a classroom or sat next to her in the library, we would recognize her right away.

Winnie’s ability to bring herself to life through language also creates some challenges in her essay. She has so much to show us and does so in such creative ways that readers can feel overwhelmed by the information and figurative language that competes for our attention. Your college essay is a valuable opportunity to show who you are, but it’s not necessary to weave every aspect of your life into 650 words. For even the most gifted writers, less is often more.

Why a Republican Read The Communist Manifesto

I am a conservative. Point-blank. I’m not talking “hardcore, no gay marriage, abortion equates to eternity in Hell, Catholicism is the only religion worthy of my acknowledgment” conservative, but I believe in limited government intervention in private business. I may seem like an unlikely candidate for such beliefs; I live in Springfield, Massachusetts, an urban environment where the majority of the population utilizes some sort of government assistance to supplement the costs of living. Well, maybe not the absolute majority, but I certainly see a lot of it. Though raised as a Catholic, I believe in nothing more than simple spirituality, and do not abide by all the stipulations of the strict Catholic community (although I do continue to attend church because I find the environment welcoming and the people overwhelmingly happy and uplifting). I attend the Drama Studio, a small, conservatory style acting community where I am considered the token Republican (artsy and conservative—is this what Harold Camping meant by the Rapture?) Not surprisingly, my colleagues have made many attempts at conversion (“Watch MSNBC, Danielle; I promise you’ll love it!”) But I stick to my guns— no pun intended. However, I have found that sharing the majority of my time with those of conflicting opinions has enlightened me in the ways of respect and compromise.

Enter Jacob Mueller. Literally the son of a preacher man (his father is the minister at Trinity United Methodist Church), his political views on Facebook are listed as “Member of the Communist Party of America.” Oh, boy … He entered my Advanced Scene Work class in its second semester, and as is the Drama Studio custom, I welcomed him with open arms and commenced what I soon discovered to be the long and interesting process of getting to know him. Through this, I discovered a few important things; like me, he loved politics. Like me, he was well informed. And, like me, he was more than willing to argue his opinion.

Through our Odd Couple dynamic, we found an endless number of conversation topics. Every day was a new, “Did you see what the Tea Party’s newest legislation entails?” countered by a, “How about that Scott Brown, eh?” I was the Michele Bachmann to his Al Gore. But the remarkable thing about our debates was not their intensity or their depth, but how much I was learning by listening to him talk.

A strange thing was happening to me. For the girl who had always been staunchly opinionated and stubborn, who had never been one for agreeing with the opposition, who took pride in her ability to stand her ground even when she represented the minority view, compromise suddenly had a new meaning. Its connotation was no longer negative. And, in turn my ability to not only understand but also respect a view contradictory to my own was growing in strength. In order to foster this newfound mind-set, I presented myself with the ultimate challenge. In a moment of excited passion, I logged on to Amazon.com and, for $4.95, ordered a copy of The Communist Manifesto. The little book, with its floppy laminated cover depicting a hammer and a sickle on a glossy black background and plain white block letters spelling out its title with inconspicuous innocence, took its place at the head of my bed, where it resided for the next month. Bit by bit, it began to fill with marks of pensive notation, speckles of yellow appearing in odd places where the highlighter had bled through, its fragile pages curving with the insistent pen marks that filled their margins.

As I devoured the words of Marx and Engels, I realized something remarkable. I’m not going to tell you I agreed with them; in a lot of instances, I didn’t. But I did understand what they were saying, and I was able to respect them both as visionaries and intellectuals. Where the old voice in my head would have said, “Wow, what idiots,” my new voice was open to more than just the fundamental ideas, but the intelligence it must have taken to form them and the thought process behind them.

When I register to vote, I will not be registering as a Democrat. You won’t see me at any PETA meetings, and you certainly won’t hear me speaking fondly about President Obama’s plans for health care. But I can proudly say that The Communist Manifesto taught this Republican what it means to compromise, and to respect.

Lessard's essay “works” and earned its author a spot at Harvard, yet it circumvents a general guideline of college essay writing by speaking directly about politics and religion—albeit in a funny and personal way. Lessard explains humorously and intimately her status as a curious conservative. If one is going to talk about controversial topics like politics in a college essay, avoid entirely (as this essay does—and even if you do make mention of The Communist Manifesto !) providing your own manifesto. The main problem with manifestoes is that they are not personal, but abstract. By contrast, the college essay needs to tell us all about you, ideally in an unforgettable, up-close, down-to-earth way. Nobody wants to read the RNC or DNC policy platform coughed up as an essay. Instead colleges want to get to know the real you.

One way this essay could be improved might include providing more detail about what exactly Lessard found meaningful in the works of Marx and Engels. As it stands, the essay only touches on The Communist Manifesto in a cursory way despite Lessard's reading of that work being pivotal to the arc of the essay. Even another couple of sentences explaining the writer’s “respect” (Is it grudging admiration for the Marxist theory of history? Some element of the text’s social critique?) could deepen the essay’s analysis.

Very effectively, however, Lessard positions herself in this essay as a person on an intellectual journey who is open to new ideas and experiences. This is an excellent posture to demonstrate to an admissions committee. College is all about learning—intellectually, socially, politically, and beyond—and colleges often find students irresistible when they are hellbent on learning to the utmost. Be an intellectual astronaut and demonstrate that in your college essay, as Lessard did quite effectively.

I wrap my scarf more firmly around my neck, feeling the chill of the brisk January air as I trudge my way to practice. The bus stop isn’t actually that far from the pool, but with a heavy backpack and the fancy shoes that my host sister insisted I wear, the three-minute trek seems to last forever. Turning the corner three blocks down, I finally make it to the parking lot and see one of my friends.

“Salut, Thomas.”

He knows that it’s me without even looking. “Salut, Danielle.” He finishes fiddling with his bicycle lock and stands to greet me. I lean in for my customary kiss, and he obliges, bisous-ing me once on each cheek, before we walk toward Piscine Bréquigny together.

Easy conversation flows between us as our well-trained feet follow the paths to our respective changing rooms. I punch in the code on the girls’ side and open the door. Familiar figures stand in various states of undress, and bisous go all around while we change and speculate on the various tortures Marc will put us through today. Then we head down to the pool deck, ready to meet our fates.

I get to our coach first, and mentally switch back into English. “Hey, Marc, what’s up?”

He shrugs. “Fine.”

I laugh and give him a high five, then move on to bisous and ça va? the rest of the boys. When I get to Islem, who is Algerian, the two of us proceed to execute our exceedingly complex non-French secret handshake, recently perfected at Tours during last week’s three-day meet. (We foreigners have to stick together, after all.) We end with a perfect fist bump, and I smirk.

Islem winks back at me. “Et ouais.” That’s how we roll.

Marc eventually yells at us to get to work, and we all start to put on our caps and goggles. I pull out my team cap from home, reflecting on how much I’ve changed since I left. Four months ago, I was mute, standing awkwardly to the side, hoping that English instructions for the new and frightening social interaction would suddenly appear out of thin air. Now, flawless French rolls off my lips as I greet my friends, laughing freely at inside jokes, not thinking twice about kissing swimsuit-clad swimmers on the cheek. I’m not just on the team anymore—I’m part of it, and every single bisous reminds of that fact.

Someone pushes me into the pool and my shriek is swallowed by the water. I surface and swear my revenge, glaring all the while at Pierre, the obvious culprit, who is grinning unabashedly. Then he yelps and falls as he himself is pushed in as well. The whole team eventually follows us into the water to start the day’s warm up, and a small smile, fond and content, flits across my face before I join them.

One of the first pieces of advice that I share about what makes a strong essay is for a student to not overthink it. Not everybody needs to cure a disease by the time they turn 16 or have had a research paper published in a professional journal. Let me get to know who you are as a person – and it’s often the simplest day-to-day stories that help students do this most effectively.

Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of athletes writing about sports (which often come across as thin and cliched) so I was bit trepidatious when I read the opening paragraph. I got over it quickly.

Here are the notes I took while reading this essay:

Opening: Sets the scene effectively, draws me in to want to learn more about her abroad experience, seems very friendly.

Changing room / interplay with team: Comes across as personable with a fun sense of humor. Exchanges with coach and the conversations and handshakes with teammates show adaptability and an ability to bring people together.

Practice / reflection moment: Spending four months away from home can be intimidating for most people, let alone a high schooler, and shows a true sense of commitment and perseverance. At the beginning of her trip she seemed scared and vulnerable but she learned to push past any initial anxiety and now presents herself as self-aware and appreciative.

End: She has grown from this abroad experience and her spirit, likability and sense of camaraderie are evident.

When I read an interesting and descriptive essay like this, it’s almost like I’m drawn into a mini-movie. I want to keep reading to see how things play out. By the end, I feel like I know the student and I have a sense of how their unique personal attributes would make them an appealing candidate to any college admissions officer.

Sponsored by Dan Lichterman : As an admission essay specialist, Dan Lichterman has been empowering students to find their voice since 2004. He helps students stand out on paper, eliminating the unnecessary so the necessary may speak. Drawing upon his storytelling background, Dan guides applicants to craft authentic essays that leap off the page. He is available for online writing support within the US and internationally. To learn more and schedule a brief complimentary consultation visit danlichterman.com .

A light breeze caressing the cornfield makes it look like a gentle swaying sea of gold under the ginger sun of late summer. A child’s chime-like laughter echoes. As I rush through the cornfield, I hear the rustling of leaves and the murmur of life hidden among the stems that tower over me.

I remember the joy of the day when I solved one of my first difficult combinatorics problems at my parents’ house in the countryside. I felt so exhilarated that I ran outside and into the cornfield. As I was passing row after row of stems, I realized the cornfield was actually a giant matrix with thousands of combinations of possible pathways, just like the combinatorics problem I had just solved. I looked at the sky and I thought about the great mathematicians of the past that contributed so much to this field and about how I have added yet another dimension to my matrix. Suddenly, mathematics appeared to me as a 3D live map where staggering arrays of ideas connect each other by steady flows of sheer wisdom.

Suddenly a loud laughter from the next room wakes me up from my reverie. I am back in my room in the drab dormitory where I lived since I was fifteen. The dim sunset barely lightens up my room, while the cold November wind rushes from the broken-and-mended-with-tape window on the hallway, whistling beneath my door. My roommates haven’t returned yet, and I feel alone and isolated.

In moments such as these I always take out the ultimate weapon against gloominess: the picture of my family. I look at myself, my parents, my little sister, and my grandfather at the countryside, under a clear blue sky, hugging, sharing the joy of being together. It reminds me of the old times, when life was simpler, but it also reminds me of why I came to Bucharest to live in a dormitory. It was because mathematics fascinated me with its beautiful and intricate theories and configurations, and my parents and my family supported me 150 percent. They put in long hours at work to pay for school costs and they selflessly accepted my long absences. I decided then to honor their support, follow our common dream, and become an accomplished mathematician.

Finally today I consider I matched at least an infinitesimal part of my parents’ work. After countless Olympiad stages and fierce selection programs, I managed to win a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad, along with scoring what is called “an ace”: getting gold medals in the National Olympiad, the Balkan Olympiad, and the International Olympiad.

Math, for me, is a vast map of knowledge where theories intersect each other like pathways in a cornfield, and that explains the laws of nature and the universe itself. However, no matter what mathematical sphere shall I soar in, I will always have my family with me and the joy of that day when I was running freely in the cornfield.

Octav’s essay succeeds through its sophisticated use of narrative shift and juxtaposition. He transforms a youthful pastoral image of running through a cornfield into a wholly unexpected and exhilarating mathematical epiphany. The metaphor proves effective by merging his richly tactile experience with a cognitive experience that is maximally abstract: navigating a matrix of thousands of combinatorial pathways. Within this reverie, we see Octav’s intellectual freedom and ability to lose himself in both the contributions of great thinkers and his own original insights.

After leading the reader into his experience of pure mathematical reasoning, the essay takes a deft biographical turn. Through Octav’s austere study in a drab Bucharest boarding school we realize for the first time just how far he has travelled and how much has been sacrificed for his dream of becoming a mathematician. The cornfield takes on further dimensionality, now representing both a nostalgic connection to his family and the unbounded expansiveness that accompanies the life of the mind. When Octav mentions his mathematical “ace” it is almost besides the point–we already wholly believe in the promise of his curiosity-driven journey.

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August 1, 2024

Harvard Business School MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2024 – 2025]

Harvard Business School (HBS) continues to be one of the few schools, if not the only one, with just admissions two rounds (September and January). HBS uses an April deadline exclusively for HBS 2+2, its deferred enrollment program.

The HBS admissions office announced several updates for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle. New criteria for admission were laid out and three shorter essays introduced in place of the program’s long-standing single essay prompt. Although the essays have been shortened, applicants must still understand the importance of self-reflection before picking up the proverbial pen. We have all had experiences in our lives that have shaped who we are personally and professionally. It is critical to spend time focusing on your motivations and identifying your strengths and weaknesses to uncover your authentic story so you can present it effectively to the admissions committee. 

HBS is looking for some specific information from its candidates, and the program’s decision to request that information through three brief essays might make the task of writing these essays seem easier at first. However, it is often more challenging to provide a story’s context and convey the details of the impact you have made with fewer words. It is essential to recognize that the essays are part of a holistic process, and the story you want to tell is found in the various parts of your application, not just in your essays. Make sure that you are clear on what you want to convey to the admissions committee across the totality of your application. Each essay asks you to identify one or more experiences that have been formative in some way. Beyond selecting a specific life event or events (personal or professional) to discuss in each essay, you must convey the outcome or the impact of the experience(s). Don’t use the same experience from one essay to the next. Consider each essay a novel opportunity for HBS to learn something new about you. 

Before jumping into your essays, remind yourself that Harvard’s mission is to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. Also, review the Who Are We Looking For? section of HBS’s website, which identifies the three characteristics that are common among its students: Business-Minded, Leadership-Focused, and Growth-Oriented. Further, HBS provides context for the meaning of Business-Minded, Leadership-Focused, and Growth-Oriented and is specific about how it will identify each of these characteristics throughout your application. 

Ready to get to work on your HBS application? Read on. 

HBS application essay tips

Hbs application deadlines, hbs class profile.

Business-Minded Essay: 

Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)

This question asks you to consider past experiences, drawn from any aspect of your life, that have shaped you in some way. How have they influenced your career aspirations and the choices you have made throughout your career so far? While you’ll reference the short- and long-term goals you outlined in the Post-MBA Goals section of the HBS application, you’re not expected to provide the same level of detail here. Rather, describe how these experiences have shaped your professional journey and continue to inspire your plans for your career.

The second part of the prompt requires you to be forward-looking and consider the broader impact you’ll have as you continue your professional journey. Whether with businesses, organizations, or communities, you will contribute to their success in some way. What difference will you make with these entities as you navigate the path to achieving your career goals? Discussing your impact across all three arenas is unnecessary. Instead, focus on an authentic example based on your particular engagement and the specifics of how you will make a difference. 

Leadership-Focused Essay: 

What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)

With this question, the HBS admissions committee wants you to identify pivotal experiences that have influenced your development into the person you are. Remember to use a different experience than you did in the first essay. Whether that’s a personal challenge that had a profound impact on your values or an event that changed your perspective, this essay requires you to dig deep and reflect on the effect the experience had on your perception of leadership and your outlook on navigating your environment. Beyond explaining why or how the experience shaped you, the admissions committee wants to know what you have done with your learning. What specific actions have you taken to support others in their journey that showcase what you learned? This can range from supporting a coworker during a challenging period to working with a volunteer group helping homeless youth learn life skills. Beyond investing in others, what leadership traits do you recognize and aspire to develop? Why is it important that you achieve this development?

Growth-Oriented Essay: 

Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)

To begin this essay, reflect on times when you were curious about something and were motivated to continue learning because you were driven to grow. What was it that fed your curiosity? How did that strong desire to learn manifest itself? The experience you describe of being curious will demonstrate what you did to continue the learning process. What activities did you engage in, and how did they contribute to your ongoing development? Were there specific people that you interacted with, and if so, what did you learn from them? Next comes, as you might have guessed, the impact. Based on the curiosity that drove you to continue learning, describe how you grew. What part of the experience contributed to your growth? How did your perspective change, or what skills did you develop through the process? 

Source: HBS website

Applications must be submitted online by 12 noon Boston time.

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with HBS directly to verify the essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***

Here’s a look at HBS’s Class of 2025 (data taken from the HBS website ):

Number of applications: 8,14

Enrolled: 938

Countries represented 

• United States: 61%
• Europe: 10%
• Mexico, Central and South America: 5%
• Middle East: 3%
• Oceania: 1%

International: 39%

U.S. Race/Ethnicity (Federal guidelines reporting)

• Asian American: 22%
• Hispanic or Latino: 11%
• Black or African American: 10%
• Multi-race: 6%
• Did not report: 1%
• American Indian or Alaskan Native: 0
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 0

Average GPA: 3.73

Average years of work experience: 4.9

Median GMAT: 740 GMAT range: 500-790 Median GMAT Verbal: 42 GMAT Verbal range: 25-51 Median GMAT Quantitative: 49 GMAT Quantitative range: 31-51 Percentage of class that submitted GMAT scores: 69% Median GRE Verbal: 163 GRE Verbal range: 150-170 Median GRE Quantitative: 163 GRE Quantitative range: 145-170 Percentage of class that submitted GRE scores: 39%

Undergraduate majors

• Engineering: 25%
• Business/Commerce: 22%
• Economics: 21%
• Math/Physical sciences: 17%
• Social Sciences: 12%
• Arts/Humanities: 4%

Pre-MBA Industry

• Consulting: 17%
• Venture Capital, Private Equity: 17%
• Technology: 13%
• Consumer Products, Retail, E-Commerce: 10%
• Financial Services: 10%
• Manufacturing, Industrial, Energy: 9%
• Health Care, Biotech: 7%
• Military: 6%
• Nonprofit, Government, Education: 6%
• Media, Entertainment, Travel: 3%
• Services: 2%

As the former executive director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School and assistant dean of admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School and the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School, Kelly Wilson has 23 years’ experience overseeing admissions committees and has reviewed more than 38,000 applications for the MBA and master’s programs in management of information systems, computational finance, business analytics, and product management.  Want Kelly to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2024
• Admissions Straight Talk podcast
• The Selectivity Index , a free tool

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Tuesday Tips: Harvard MBA Essay Advice for 2024-2025

After more than a decade with the same prompt, Harvard Business School has updated its essay requirement for the Class of 2027. The new Harvard MBA essay set has three questions focused on the following evaluation criteria: Business-Minded, Leadership-Focused, and Growth-Oriented.

These prompts clearly signal who Harvard Business School is looking for. Business-minded people want to solve problems to improve their organizations and are effective at doing so. Meanwhile, leadership-focused MBA applicants know that successful organizations run with effective teams. Finally, growth-oriented people have an innate curiosity and are always improving.

While these essay questions are new, the goal remains the same—proving you are a fit for HBS. Check out the incoming class profile for an idea of what constitutes the “typical” HBS student. A persuasive essay set can move you into the interview round for a closer look.

As a former HBS Admissions Officer on the SBC consulting team revealed, “The essay is make-or-break for HBS. So many candidates have acceptable credentials up to that point of the application, and the essay sets the overall application apart and earns it the interview.”

Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of HBS expertise on our team:

When answering these questions, consider examples from your life that showcase these qualities. The goal remains to know yourself, know HBS, and know how to match the two.

First, evaluate all of the other aspects of your candidacy. What story does your resume tell? What will your recommenders say? How does your transcript communicate your skills, accomplishments, and interests?  Next, consider how you can fill in the gaps through your essays.

“At the end of the essay, the AdCom reader should feel so moved they want to meet you immediately. They can’t wait to get to know you better, hear more of the story, ask specific questions, be inspired, etc,” shared another former HBS Admissions Officer on the SBC team.

Curious about your chances of getting into Harvard Business School? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session  with an SBC Principal Consultant.

Harvard MBA Essay Set for 2024-2025

Applicants to the MBA Class of 2027 (matriculating fall 2025) need to respond to these three essay prompts:

Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)

This first Harvard MBA essay question is similar to a typical career goals essay. However, note that it focuses on impact. HBS seeks MBA students who will change their organizations and the world. You should think big, be ambitious, and show that you care.

In the past, we have seen successful HBS essays home in on a core driving passion. HBS students are ambitious, motivated, and never dull. Asking about how you plan to “serve” in your business career is intentional. This essay is not about your ambitions; it’s about what you will do to improve the organizations and world around you.

Business-minded people are also practical. When you review your plans and aspirations, make sure they can be realized. Passion and skill can lead to extraordinary outcomes. Your goal is to demonstrate a success trajectory to indicate upper management potential. Your path should show a passion for impact in both business and society.

Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)

HBS has always focused on leadership and loves candidates with a track record of impact. The next two essays ask for evidence of your leadership potential. For this essay, think of an example that shows an accomplishment. If your key achievements are not readily apparent in your resume or transcripts, you can use this essay to explain them.

It’s important to note that hardship can be a part of growth. If you have faced challenges in your life, embrace them in this essay and tell your story. Remember that focusing on the lessons learned from your setbacks can be inspiring and revealing.

Finally, make sure you focus on others in this Harvard MBA essay. Leadership is about the team and its people. In your story, focus on anything you learned about how you plan to lead people. The final part of the question asks about the kind of leader you want to become. Think about how you want your future team or company to view you. And what you hope to accomplish.

Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)

The final HBS MBA essay question is about growth and focuses on curiosity as a key quality. When you think about people who are lifelong learners, they are all curious about the world. Curious people want to understand how things work, solve problems, and work on developing themselves and their teams.

This essay asks for an example, which should be evidence that you are curious. Keep in mind that both personal and career-oriented topics can work for this essay. Think about a time when you were curious about a problem at work, school or an extracurricular. Describe why you were interested, what you did to learn more, and how your learning had impact. In conclusion, remember to be specific and let your personality shine through.

Joint Degree Essays

Joint degree applicants for the harvard medical school, harvard school of dental medicine, harvard graduate school of arts and sciences, harvard law school, and harvard kennedy school must provide an additional essay: how do you expect the joint degree experience to benefit you on both a professional and a personal level (up to 400 words), joint degree applicants for the harvard paulson school of engineering and applied sciences must provide an additional essay: the ms/mba engineering sciences program is focused on entrepreneurship, design, and innovation. describe your past experiences in these areas and your reasons for pursuing a program with this focus. (recommended length: 500 words)., applicants will also be able to respond to an optional essay..

Both joint degree Harvard MBA essay questions are targeted at the reasons why you are pursuing both degrees. This is a place to demonstrate your research into each program and highlight relevant past experience.

For these essays, it’s vital to have clear goals and understand how the programs will help you achieve them. For your past experience, show that you are qualified for both the MBA program and the relevant joint degree program. Your career goals should also warrant the investment in both programs.

The first joint degree essay also asks about both the personal and professional development you expect. Some possibilities include the people in your program, unique academic opportunities, the caliber of speakers who visit the schools, and the incomparable alumni network.

The second joint degree essay focuses on your past experiences and why you want to focus on entrepreneurship, design, and innovation. There are many MBA career paths that require a strong engineering background, and this is a place to show that you are prepared academically for the education. Finally, show that you have a professional goal requiring the joint degree.

The SBC team wishes you luck with your Harvard Business School application and would love to support your efforts. Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your HBS MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership  and  HBS interview Prep  to  hourly help  with essay editing, resume review, and much more! Contact us today for a  free 15-minute advising session  to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.

Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team .

HBS Admissions Board at Harvard Business School HBS MBA

HBS Admissions Board at Harvard Business School Kellogg MBA

Director HBS Admissions at Harvard Business School MBA, the Wharton School

HBS Admissions Board at Harvard Business School

Director HBS Admissions at Harvard Business School HBS MBA

Admissions Officer at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) MBA, Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB)

Asst Director MBA Admissions at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) Director MBA Admissions at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business

MBA, Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) Minority Admissions, the GSB Diversity Programs, the GSB

Associate Director MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

Associate Director MBA Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute

Director, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania Professional Writer

Assistant Director MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School (CBS) NYU Admissions

Assistant Director MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School (CBS) M.S.Ed, Higher Education, U of Pennsylvania

Associate Director MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School (CBS)

Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure.  Ashley  holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years,  Ashley  was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...

Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and  ...

A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally.  Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM.  For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...

Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).  In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds.  Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students.  In additio ...

Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years.  Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...

Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years.  In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School.  Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...

Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...

Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...

Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications.  She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...

Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford.   Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...

Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year.   Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...

Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...

Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team.  During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students.  She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...

Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS).  During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...

Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...

Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director.  Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants.

SBC’s star-studded consultant team is unparalleled. Our clients benefit from current intelligence that we receive from the former MBA Admissions Officers from Harvard HBS, Stanford GSB and every elite business program in the US and Europe.  These MBA Admissions Officers have chosen to work exclusively with SBC.

Just two of the many superstars on the SBC team: Meet Erin , who was Assistant Director of MBA Admissions at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) and Director of MBA Admissions at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Meet Andrea , who served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years.

Tap into this inside knowledge for your MBA applications by requesting a consultation .

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Harvard Business School MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2021 – 2022], Class Profile

The HBS round 2 deadline is right around the corner

Before you submit your application, here are essay tips and other important information about HBS from Linda Abraham, Accepted founder and CEO who has helped hundreds of applicants gain acceptance.

HBS presented little new or changed material from previous cycles. For the fourth year in a row, it will only have two rounds. HBS dropped its third round and set an April deadline exclusively for HBS 2+2, its deferred admission program. Chad Losee, HBS Admissions Director, did not indicate in his  announcement  when the final 2+2 deadline would be or if there would be an April deadline. Harvard is #2 in  Accepted’s Selectivity Index . However, that second-place selectivity status is misleading. The Harvard brand is matched perhaps only by Stanford, and the second-place standing is probably accounted for by class size more than anything else. Harvard’s non-COVID-affected class is more than double Stanford’s, and Harvard simply accepts more people leading to a higher acceptance rate.

Let’s talk about Harvard’s MBA application

On to the Harvard MBA application and essay question itself: HBS clearly likes  the responses it has received  to the last several years’ excellent essay question because this year’s question is identical. The essay is again required, and there is NO word limit.

Harvard Business School MBA essay tips

There is  one question  for the HBS Class of 2024:

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

Last year the following was also added, and I’m sure this advice still holds. 

There is no word limit for this question. We think you know what guidance we’re going to give here. Don’t overthink, overcraft, or overwrite. Just answer the question clearly, using language that those of us who don’t know your world can understand. 

Before you begin to write I have two suggestions for you:

• Review  Harvard’s criteria for admission , and its  MBA Application Tips: Essay video .
• Watch the embedded video on the case method at HBS. 

This is a great essay question. It allows you to choose what you want the school to know about you without having to fit that information into a framework required by a question that doesn’t really align with your story. It also allows you to demonstrate judgment and communication skills, which are critical given  Harvard’s residential culture , study groups, and case method. Finally, this essay is a chance for HBS to get to know you beyond your resume and the limited (and limiting) boxes. In fact, as Chad Losee says in his essay tip video, they want to get to know you through your essay. That’s the essay’s purpose.

Now THINK. What else – really and truly – do you want Harvard Business School to know about you? The HBS admissions committee has told you what they want to know in the other sections of the application. “What more” do  you  want the HBS readers to know? Please note that your essay has to be additive. “What more” are the key words in the prompt.  It shouldn’t be a resume in prose.  And it shouldn’t be a series of vague generalities and assertions that would apply to many others. Finally, it can’t be a series of anecdotes with no meaning or significance associated with the experiences. It should reflect at least part of your unique story, the part that you want HBS to know. Finally, your essay should reflect your motivations, values, and dreams.

The answer to HBS’ question is not something I can give or even suggest to you in a blog post aimed at the many (for individual guidance, please see Accepted’s  MBA Admissions Consulting ). It must be different for each of you. Again, refer to the HBS criteria, as you contemplate possible topics, but the options are infinite. A few possibilities:

• Provide context for events described in the required elements.
• Delve into your motivations for the decisions or commitments you have made.
• Discuss experiences that shaped your dreams for the future, which may just benefit enormously from an HBS education (caveat: HBS doesn’t ask why you want to attend Harvard).
• Examine challenges you have faced.  These could be personal challenges, or perhaps interpersonal challenges.
• Envision something you would like to accomplish at HBS.
• Provide more depth on an activity or commitment that is particularly important to you.

Please don’t limit yourself to these suggestions. I am offering them to stimulate your creativity, not to shut it down. 

[Free Webinar: Get Accepted to Harvard Business School]

Since I’ve been in MBA admissions consulting (over 25 years now), HBS has valued concision. And, in today’s tweet- and sound-bite-driven world, it is requiring short responses in the other portions of the application. Don’t take the absence of a word limit on this essay as a license for verbosity. Make every word count, no pun intended. If you must pull a number out of me, keep it under 1200 words, preferably under 1000 words. And if you can say what you need to say in less than 800 words, do so. A few cautions and warnings regarding this essay – it is NOT:

• Stanford’s “what matters most to you and why?”
• The kitchen sink in which you throw everything.
• An autobiography.
• A resume in prose or a rehash of your transcript and honors.
• An ode to the awesomeness of Harvard. They don’t need you to tell them they have a great institution that you would be honored to attend. They’ve heard it before.

For expert guidance on your Harvard Business School application, check out Accepted’s  MBA Application Packages  that include advising, editing, interview coaching, and a resume edit for the HBS application. Looking to score some scholarship money while you’re at it? Accepted’s clients received over $1 million dollars in scholarship offers in the last application cycle.  Explore our services  for more information on how Accepted can help you get into Harvard.

Harvard Business School 2021-22 Application Deadlines

Source: HBS website

Stay on top of MBA deadlines with the  MBA Admissions Calendar !

[ Click here  to add the calendar to your Google calendar; or  here  to add the calendar to another app.]

* Applications must be submitted online by 12 noon Boston time.

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with individual programs to verify the essay questions, instructions and deadlines.***

HBS Class Profile [Class of 2023]

Here’s a look at HBS’s Class of 2023 taken from the  Harvard Business School website :

Number of applications:  9,773

Enrolled:  1,010

Countries represented:  

• United States:  63%
• Asia:  13%
• Europe:  8%
• Mexico, Central & South America:  6%
• Canada:  3%
• Africa:  3%
• Middle East:  3%
• Oceania:  1%

Women:  46%

International:  37%

US minorities:  52%

Average GPA:  3.69

Average years work experience:  5.0

Percent of class taking GMAT:  71%

• Verbal range:  28 – 51
• Quantitative range:  32 – 51
• Total range:  590–790
• Median verbal:  41
• Median quantitative:  49
• Median total : 730

Percent of class taking GRE:  29%

• Verbal range:  147 – 170
• Quantitative range:  146–170
• Median verbal:  163
• Median quantitative:  164

Breakdown of undergraduate majors (137 domestic universities and 158 international universities)

Breakdown of pre-MBA industry

Harvard Business School’s typical class size is around 930 students. HBS gave all the incoming Class of 2022 students the option to defer, and that class was one of the smallest in recent history – 732.  The incoming Class of 2023 is therefore larger than typical. In fact at 1,010 students it’s HBS’ largest class ever. HBS expanded the class so that it could make room for the deferred applicants from last year while admitting roughly the same percentage of applicants as in previous years. Also notable:

• 29% of students applied using the GRE.  Clearly HBS couldn’t care less if someone applies with the GRE or the GMAT. Choose the test on which you will earn the highest score.
• The percentage of women in the class edged up to 46%, 2 points higher than last year.
• Application volume increased roughly 5%, a healthy increase, but nothing record-breaking. It’s possible that applicant fears of a smaller intake due to the large number of deferrals from the previous class put a damper on application volume. 
• The percentage of international students in this year’s class went from 33% to 37%. That increase represents a return to “normal” and increased availability of visas and comfort with travel.

Are you considering applying to business school?

We have the resources to help you navigate the options and make the right choice for you:

• M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2021
• Harvard, Stanford, Wharton: What’s the Difference?
• GMAT, GPA, and MBA Acceptance Rates: The B-School Selectivity Index

Is HBS at the top of your wish list?

Get the competitive edge with HBS-specific advice and inside information:

• Sample Essays from Admitted HBS Students
• “I Wish the Admissions Committee Had Asked Me…” : How to answer open-ended MBA essay questions
• 7 Important Tips for Your HBS Post-Interview Reflection

Hear directly from Harvard alumni in these inspiring blog posts:

• An MBA Success Story Reflects on His HBS Experience, 7 Years Later
• A Harvard MBA’s Experience & Advice on Writing the Perfect Essay
• Entrepreneurship at HBS: How Stride Will Help You Fund Your Future
• How to Leverage an HBS Education: The Story of LeverEdge 
• Ida Valentine: Investment Banker, Inspirational Speaker, HBS 2021
• The Journey from India to Harvard MBA 

Do you need help gaining admission to Harvard Business School or any other top MBA program? That’s what we do! Explore our  MBA Admissions Consulting Services  and work one-on-one with an experienced admissions advisor who will help you GET ACCEPTED.

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted. Linda earned her bachelors and MBA at UCLA, and has been advising applicants since 1994 when she founded Accepted. Linda is the co-founder and first president of AIGAC. She has written or co-authored 13 e-books on the admissions process, and has been quoted by  The Wall Street Journal ,  U.S. News ,  Poets & Quants ,  Bloomberg Businessweek ,  CBS News , and others. Linda is the host of  Admissions Straight Talk , a podcast for graduate school applicants.  Want an admissions expert help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• What Is Harvard Business School Looking For?
• Real Sample Essays from Successful HBS Applicants
• “I Wish the Admissions Committee Had Asked Me…”

This article originally appeared on blog.accepted.com

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Published in MBA , Accepted.com , Admission Consultants , Applications and Blog

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