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An International MBA – Part 5

Now that you have set your eyes on the ‘right’ schools, you should not waste even a single moment…leap onto the bandwagon of essay-writers! One of the biggest deciding factors in the entire Application Game is the ‘Application Essay’.

Jeez, what is an ‘essay’…?

Each school abroad, no matter how big or how small, places a lot of emphasis on the admission essays. Your undergrad and GMAT scores are all indicative of what you are but the admission officers are more interested in know ‘who’ you are, beyond those numbers and designations. They want to know the person within you; know about your goals, passions, values, dreams etc. They evaluate you amongst the thousands of others who have applied along with you. They are interested in knowing how unique you are and how the community will benefit by having you around.


In the 3000 – 6000 odd people who apply to each business school, there are number of engineers, accountants and consultants. But each person will have had different experiences and hence write different stories. The essays provide an opportunity to the prospective student to talk to the admission officers and narrate his/her story in a natural & passionate way. Lot of things are noted in your essays viz. your writing style, art of communicating, maturity, future career goals, understanding of the MBA program, team-working style etc. Essays are the windows which allow the admission officers to peek into your lifestyle; charm it up and impress them so much that they will want to see the ‘complete you’ in their business school.

It is very important for you to understand that the admission committee which reviews your application is comprised of normal human beings and not some robotic mechanisms and hence, learn to revere the time and energy that your application gets. It is definitely a daunting task to read through thousands of essays and assess the individuals mentally. Thus, be a little considerate on the reader and write some nice, charming stories about yourself. These stories should not only be captivating but also remain distinctly in the minds of the reader, long after he/she has moved onto the next application. Having read through innumerable number of essays, the admission officers can easily pick out the phony ones from the genuine ones. On a broad scale, the officers look out for leadership potential, intellectual ability, career focus and personal characteristics. You need to portray all of these in a concise manner. Your essays should ideally give life to your résumé. If you are not used to writing, I suggest you take up this as a hobby and improve your writing skills on top priority. Plan well ahead as you wouldn’t believe the number of drafts you need to shred before you are ready to dispatch the final set of essays to the B-School. Catch hold of the people who can be your faithful editors and coax them into submission. ?


The essay questions of most of the business schools more or less run around the same regions. The below discussed questions are just indicative and by no means, exhaustive.