Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About MBA Essays –
From MBA Admit.com

Frequently Asked Question:  Is it true that a set of mediocre or poorly written MBA essays can derail the application of an MBA candidate who has an exceptionally strong academic and professional record?

Dr. Shel Watts of MBA Admit.com:  Your MBA essays are key to your admission. It is hard to overstate this. There have been many instances when MBA candidates come to me after applying unsuccessfully on their own, and after reviewing their applications, I have determined that a key weakness in their application was the quality of their essays—both in terms of their strategic choice of content and the specific words they used to try to convey their achievements and credentials. 

In some instances, candidates failed to put forward compelling long-term goals.  In other cases, they failed to shine a light on their most strategically important achievements.  At times, the essay themes were not clear.  In other instances, candidates failed to communicate their achievements and qualifications in the most business-relevant terms.  With essays that did not serve their purposes well, it did not matter to the admissions committee that some of those applicants had near-perfect academic records—high GMAT scores and near-perfect GPAs from excellent schools like Princeton. 

The essays matter a great deal and can make the difference between admission and rejection from a top MBA program!

Frequently Asked Question:  What specific examples do you recall that illustrate the significant impact that MBA essays can have on MBA admissions?

Dr. Shel Watts of MBA Admit.com:  There are many examples.  Nearly every time I review the application of a candidate who failed to gain admission to their desired business school after applying on their own, I see a great deal of room for improvement in their MBA essays.  The good news is that once I have worked with candidates to revise or completely re-craft their essays, these candidates have fared much better in the admissions process.  In one case, with his newly written essays, a young man who had been rejected from Columbia’s full-time (September-start) program gained admission just a few months later to Columbia’s January start program.  In another instance, I guided a young man on the waitlist at a top-10 busines school to re-write his entire long-term goal essay and he resubmitted it to the admissions committee—even though they had not asked him to do this.  (He was highly qualified, but the first version he had submitted on his own was so awful that I did not think the admissions committee would move him off of the waitlist.)  Shortly thereafter, this top-10 business school took the candidate off of the waitlist and granted him admission. 

In yet another instance, a young lady who had been rejected from four top-10 business schools in Round 1 came to me for assitance and, with newly crafted essays, she gained admission to all top-10 schools she applied to in Round 2.  In other instances, candidates who were rejected from multiple top-5 business schools in one year when applying on their own, gained admission to all of the same top-5 business schools the next year with their newly crafted essays (including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and Columbia).

The take-away: pay great attention to your MBA essays. They are pivotal to your success in the admissions process. 

Frequently Asked Question:  What is the distinction between presenting a weak application and presenting a weak candidacy?

Dr. Shel Watts of MBA Admit.com:  A weak candidacy means there is something about your qualifications that makes you less attractive to the admissions committee of a particular school.  For example, if you have a 2.0 GPA, but the average GPA for matriculating students at a particular MBA program is a 3.8, you might be considered to have a weaker-than-ideal candidacy. 

If you presented a weak application, however, this does not necessarily mean that your candidacy is weak.  You could have wonderful qualifications, but you failed to present those qualifications to the committee in the best way.  Perhaps your essays were not strong.  Perhaps you presented two recommendations that were lukewarm in their endorsement of you.  Perhaps you failed to correct a lot of typos in the application form itself, leaving the impression that you put the application together in haste. 

For a fuller list of frequently asked questions,
Click here.

To sign up for our services,
contact drwatts@mbaadmit.com