MBA Essay Topics for 2018 – Crafting Compelling Responses
Crafting compelling essays is one of the most important parts of your MBA application. Schools use the essays to get a sense of who you are beyond just your resume and background. They want to see how you think, how you approach challenges, and what your personal values and goals are. Given how important essays are, it’s crucial to put time and effort into understanding the types of essay questions you may see and preparing thoughtful responses. Here is an in-depth overview of some common MBA essay topics for 2018 and tips for crafting winning responses.
Discuss Your Career Goals and Aspirations
This is likely one of the most common essay prompts. Schools want to understand what career path you envision for yourself after getting your MBA and how an MBA degree will help you achieve those goals. Avoid vague, lofty goals like “to be successful” or “make an impact.” Instead, be very specific about the type of role or industry you want to work in after graduating. Provide concrete examples of companies or roles of interest and clearly articulate how an MBA will equip you with the skills needed to be successful in that field. Showing strong career focus and direction is important.
Describe Your Leadership Experience
While leadership abilities come in many forms, essays provide an opportunity to highlight any formal leadership roles or experiences in your professional or extracurricular background. Effective responses go beyond just listing titles or positions and instead tell a story to illustrate your leadership style and accomplishments. Reflect on a key challenge or opportunity you addressed and the impact of your actions. What specific skills did you gain or develop in the process? Strong responses also demonstrate strong self-awareness by admitting some areas of leadership that could still be improved.
Discuss Your Greatest Professional Achievement
This prompt allows you to highlight a past accomplishment that showcases your strengths, work ethic, and ability to overcome obstacles. Choose an achievement directly relevant to your desired post-MBA career path. Provide the broader context and then dive into your specific role and contributions. Numbers can help underscore your impact if applicable. Express humility but also honestly convey the pride you took in your success. Lessons learned are also important to discuss.
Contribute Your Personal Back Story or Unique Perspective
In this essay, focus on describing a challenging circumstance or event from your background that helped shape you into the applicant you are today. Effective responses tap into diversity of experience, overcoming obstacles, gaining perspective, or further motivating career goals. Avoid coming across as a “sob story” and instead highlight your resilience and character development from the experience. Responses also tie back into how your perspective will uniquely contribute to your class and program.
Discuss Meaningful Community Involvement
Schools value well-rounded applicants who are engaged outside the workplace. Strong responses here demonstrate a sustained commitment to bettering your community through active involvement in volunteer work, non-profits, civic organizations, or campus/professional groups. Don’t just list activities but reflect on specific roles or initiatives you spearheaded and concrete impacts. Bonus points for connecting engagement back to your leadership abilities, career goals, or diversity of perspective you would bring to campus. Long-tenured commitments are viewed more positively than one-off experiences.
Describe Your Long-Term Vision and Ideal Future State
This prompt is a chance to creatively envision your personal vision for the future – perhaps 10 to 15 years out. Avoid generic terms but be specific by describing your ideal career scenario, the company or industry landscape, how you positively impacted others, and broader societal changes or trends you see unfolding. Then discuss your role in making that vision a reality and how business skills and an MBA will help advance it further. Responses demonstrating strategic and forward-thinking are rated highly.
Analyze a Current Event and Its Business Implications
Schools want to see your ability to tie news headlines and societal trends back to business strategies and opportunities. Choose a current event, challenge, or issue that inspires commentary. Discuss relevant facts and backgrounds but focus analysis on its implications for industries, companies, potential risks/opportunities created, innovative solutions emerging, and how organizations should respond strategically. Strong responses apply frameworks and concepts from coursework and think critically about an issue through a business lens.
Explain Your “Why This School” Rationale
This essay directly advocates for your candidacy. Demonstrate familiarity with the school’s mission, priorities, campus culture, academics, and network. Provide specific examples of how particular programs or resources directly align to your goals and experiences. Bonus points if you can draw connections to current students, faculty research, or campus organizations or initiatives you want to significantly contribute to or be involved with. Remember – admissions wants to recruit engaged students who are a clear fit, not just collecting degrees. Compelling “fit” rationales are important.
Describe a Values-Driven Decision or Leader Who Inspires You
Speak to your core principles and motivations. Discuss a past values-driven choice you made professionally or personally and why certain virtues like integrity, community, or sustainability are important to you. Or highlight an influential leader – real or fictional – whose example and accomplishments inspire your own ambition through their demonstrated courage, compassion, or vision. Responses should tie into how your values will enhance your leadership abilities and make meaningful contributions on campus and beyond.
Discuss Challenges and Strategies for the Business World Ahead
In essays focusing on the future, address pressing issues for industries or society at large using frameworks taught in core business classes. Identify economic, technological, geopolitical or environmental challenges looming in the horizon (e.g. job disruption, climate risks, political polarization) and propose innovative ideas, partnerships or regulatory strategies companies and communities could employ to overcome threats or capitalize on trends and transitions underway. Thought leadership is demonstrated by going beyond obvious answers to suggest fresher perspectives.
Analyzing Your Relevant Work or Academic Experiences
While your resume lists responsibilities, essays allow you to provide richer context to specific projects, achievements and skills gained at former positions or through guest lectures, case studies or coursework. Choose examples directly relevant to your experience, unpack specific challenges addressed, strategies used, and measurable results or lessons learned. Connect dots clearly between past scenarios and how gained acumen will transfer to your future studies and envisioned career path. Quantify impacts when possible for additional credibility.
In Conclusion
Taking time to understand common essay topics and crafting well-developed, meaningful responses is crucial for your MBA application success. Address prompts directly, share uniquely personal stories, draw insightful analyses, and align responses back to the overall core of your candidacy and “fit” for the program. With practice and feedback, you can learn to shine in essays and let your authentic qualities shine through as a ideal candidate for admission.
Andrew Stroud