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Some Essays tips for MBA admission part 2

2. The Strategy of Positioning

Writing the essays really seems to be an exercise in marketing in the sense that the image that you communicate through your essays has to make you stand out from other candidates. Most candidates have similar experiences (there is a plethora of consultants, bankers, marketing executives and so on who apply each year). This means you will talk about more or less the same things! It is critical, therefore, that you come up with a specific positioning in order to distinguish yourself. For those among you who are not familiar with the concept of positioning, the idea is to make your personality stand out by choosing a few distinctive qualities. These qualities can be your distinguishing factors, areas of expertise or your passionate interests. You need to be on the lookout for building up these themes throughout your entire application (during the essays, letters, and resume). The positioning of a candidate should be summed up in three or four chosen themes.

Positioning isn't helpful unless it enables you to show that you are what the consumer wants (here the consumer is the school because it chooses!). Be careful, because having a theme is not the goal in itself. A theme is looking for (leadership potential for Harvard). For example, if one of the themes you choose is multiculturalism, don't hesitate to show that your knowledge of other cultures has permitted you to refine your ability to listen to others or even to form a solid value system which guides you during ambiguous situations - these are the qualities of a leader.

3. Don't forget the results.

For most of the MBA essays, you are asked to describe and analyze your actions (examples: Describe your three most substantial accomplishments and why you view it as such" or "How have you helped a group to change?"). For this type of essays, it is absolutely indispensable that you talk about the results you attained. For example, if you explain that you have led a radical change in your department, do not forget to discuss precisely what the results of your actions were. On this point, I encourage you to not only indicate your results numerically (with "hard date" such as the figures on increased sales) but also the human results (the "soft date" such as a better working environment). It is important you show that you know how to "make the numbers", but not to the detriment of others.

4. Form and format

Respecting certain rules about the form of your essay is important because if you do not follow the given guidelines you will distinguish yourself from others, but not to your benefit!


Respect the word limit: an Admissions Officers explained to us that the number of words per essay is not counted. Readers look only to see if the essay seems to be more or less within the guidelines; they are not, therefore, going to realize that your essay is 10% over the word limit. However, if you go way past the limit (more than 20% over) this will be noticed and held against you because it will be perceived as an inability to synthesize your ideas in a limited among the space.


Your essay should be well structured and concise. Get right to the point and do so in a very structured manner. Use linking words to indicate your different ideas (First, Second, Third, etc.) and to show the logic of your argument (therefore, but, yet, on the other hand).

Sourec:www.gmatcat.com

posted by ritz @ 12:24 AM