subject: Common Mistakes In Mba Application Essays [print this page] Writing a great essay for your MBA application isn't easy, but it is easy to make some of the biggest blunders. Such blunders can easily ruin your chances of admission to top business schools. Here, I'll discuss some of the more common mistakes that people make in their MBA application essays.
Sounding Arrogant It's very important not to sound arrogant when answering any of the essay questions. While you may be tempted to brag about your accomplishments and personal qualities, this should be avoided. Instead, these positive points should be conveyed in an indirect and subtle way, such as in a story. It's also important to avoid using overly fancy words and flowery language. To avoid this, try having your friends read your application essays. They should be able to tell you if your essay sounds arrogant or entitled.
You should also avoid clogging your essay with too many themes, issues, or topics. No one can have all the qualities in the world and be everything. It isn't realistic and it won't impress the admissions committees. Focusing on only a few issues will actually make your MBA application essays have more of an impact and seem more realistic. It's easier to captivate readers with a story when there are only a few strong points to convey.
Don't try to be overly creative; business schools aren't looking for creative essays like they were for college applications. Business school admissions committees aren't like that. They're looking for people with managerial potential, strong personal qualities, and focused career visions. It's difficult to write a creative essay that will get these points across and MBA application essays often have limited word counts. You want your essay to be unique and emotionally impactful without going overboard with creativity. It's important to have good writing skills and to tell an impressive story, but if you go too far with creativity, it can backfire.
Make sure you aren't being too broad in your essays or they'll end up sounding generic and clich. It's important to clearly show who you are by retelling specific instances at work and using details to indirectly show off your personal qualities. Such details can be much more powerful than anything else.
Writing essays as standalone stories - your entire application and all the themes you want to get across need to be mapped out before you begin doing any writing. Ultimately the four, five or six essays you write for each application need to read as one single essay. What I mean by this is that by the time an admissions officer finishes reading all your essays, they should have a very clear and consistent picture of you. Your application should be viewed as one big puzzle. Each essay is one of those puzzle pieces (along with other components of the application). Every single essay needs to fit into your big picture marketing message. Writing an essay without consideration as to how it aids your positioning effort or how it adds value to your overall application is wasting incredibly valuable application real estate (and could also create a dangerous inconsistency if it doesn't fit in with your overall message). Your MBA applications essays are highly strategic. They are the most important part of your application. Be very very thoughtful about how you use them.
