5 Tips for Writing a Concise B-School Admissions Essay
Remember padding your high school essays to reach an assigned word count? Back then, we thought it’d be so much better if we could write less. Well, times have certainly changed!
These days, it seems like business schools want you to respond in haiku form. Harvard, Wharton and Ross are slashing the number of application essays. And Columbia has cut one essay from 500 words to 250 words. So how can you differentiate yourself and share all of your accomplishments and dreams in such a small space?
The answer may be counterintuitive. According to US News and World Report, one strategy is to start out with more examples than you need and then whittle the word count down.
Similarly, admissions officers are reducing essay lengths to remind students to prioritize. Soojin Kwon, director of admissions at the University of Michigan’s Ross School, cautions that, “So many people were spending a lot of time on the essays and probably not as much time thinking about the other things, like their interviews or talking to their recommenders or even studying for the GMAT.” In other words, essays were just one piece of the puzzle. And devoting too much time to one area made them vulnerable in others.
The best essay advice comes from Brandon Royal, who wrote Secrets to Getting Into Business School: 100 Proven Admissions Strategies to Get You Accepted at the MBA Program of Your Dreams. Brandon notes that writing an essay is all about remembering what’s important to the audience:
“It all boils down to have you told the admissions committee who you are, where you’re going, what have you done and why our particular school is the right fit for you?”
Yes? Then cut the rest.
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