by Kelly Wilson
NYU Stern MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2026-2027], Class Profile
In addition to its traditional two-year, full-time MBA program, NYU Stern offers a menu of options in graduate management education, including a one-year Technology & Entrepreneurship MBA and a one-year Luxury & Retail MBA. Stern MBA students can select up to three specializations or choose not to specialize at all.
Stern wants to know who you are, and the school focuses on “IQ+EQ.” The adcom asks for an EQ recommendation rather than a simple recommendation letter that extols your great work skills. This indicates how strongly they feel about having students who have superior experience, strong academics, and above all, the maturity and wisdom to implement change. Matthew Moll, a director of MBA admissions at Kellogg, states,
“Sternies are committed to looking honestly at their EQ – their emotional quotient or emotional intelligence. How do we improve as leaders? When do we step back and support? What can we do to address challenges differently?”
Keeping all this in mind, let’s get to work on your NYU Stern application! Here is some expert advice to help you get accepted.
Table of Contents
Essay 1: Professional Aspirations
(500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
What are your short-term career goals? Why is the Stern MBA the necessary next chapter in your professional story? Please be specific.
Stern’s first essay gives applicants space to discuss their post-MBA goals and how the Stern experience will help them achieve them. You can position this in relation to your long-term vision, but what isthe most important herepart of the prompt is to sharinge a plausible goal for your first job after business -school. Convey to the adcomissions committee the industry and, function you are targeting, and some potential companies you aspire to work with. While your short-term goal can be aspirational, the second part of the prompt requires that you understand the skills and experience necessary for this position.
?Before putting pen to paper for this part of your answer, conduct a skills gap analysis. For the position you have identified, what skills are required? Of those skills, which have you already gainedbuilt, which need to be strengthened, and which need to be added to your toolkit? First, connect the dots between what you have done and what you want to do. Next, consider how Stern’s MBA program will help you address the gaps you have identified. To do this, you will need to understand the program, including the curriculum and other aspects of the student experience. Use the information you’ve learned through information sessions, campus visits, and discussions with current students and alumni to show how you will fill the gaps in your experience that relate to the position you hope to attain.
Essay #2: Personal Expression (a.k.a “Pick Six”)
Introduce yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images and corresponding captions. Your uploaded PDF should contain all of the following elements:
- A brief introduction or overview of your “Pick Six” (No more than 3 sentences).
- Six images that help illustrate your interests, values, motivations, perspective and/or personality.
- A one-sentence caption for each of the six images that helps explain why they were selected and are significant to you.
Note: Your visuals may include photos, infographics, drawings, or any other images that best describe you. Your document must be uploaded as a single PDF. The essay cannot be sent in physical form or linked to a website.
Nedjee Corriolan, an assistant director of MBA admissions at Stern, shares her advice on tackling this essay:
“From your first image to the very last image, you’re creating a visually dynamic story. It’s important to understand what the message behind each photo is so you can capture the narrative in your brief caption.”
She states that the “why” means more than the “what.”
As you are selecting your images, ask yourself these questions: Why is this important to me? And what does this show about who I am? Corriolan suggests that you show the images to a friend and ask them what the images convey about you. Does what they say match your idea for a caption? Maybe your friend has other ideas. Brainstorm and see what you can come up with. This is a fun essay, so you should have fun putting it together! It doesn’t have to be about your professional achievements – that is covered elsewhere in your application and resume. You are not your job. Think about who you are outside of work and what is important to you. Although you have the option to include something professional or goal -related, make sure that your images complement those goals. Let your individuality shine in this essay to differentiate you from other candidates. This can be a great place to reveal personal interests, hobbies, or community service commitments.
Remember, each caption is only one sentence, so don’t pick an image that will require a complicated explanation. It might relate back to one of your essays, but really, it should showcase a new facet of your personality.
You can use word clouds, graphs, infographics, charts, and of course, pictures. Basically anything two-dimensional that will go into a PDF for uploading can work for Stern’s Pick Six essay.
Essay #3: Additional information (optional)
(500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee and/or give context to your application. This may include important aspects of yourself not otherwise apparent in your application, including but not limited to: hardships you have encountered, current or past gaps in employment, further explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake a standardized test or English proficiency test, or any other relevant information.
Stern provides several suggestions regarding what to include in this essay. However, if you have something significant you would like the adcom to know, and that topic isn’t mentioned in the school’s prompt, don’t worry. The prompt is open enough that you can still use this optional essay to explain it. Just don’t duplicate information that’s found elsewhere in your application.
NYU Stern application deadlines
| First deadline | September 15, 2026 |
| Second deadline | October 15, 2026 |
| Third deadline | January 15, 2027 |
| Fourth deadline | April 15, 2027 |
Source: NYU Stern website
***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with NYU Stern directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***
NYU Stern Class Profile
Here is a look at NYU Stern’s full-time, two-year MBA Class of 2027 (data taken from the NYU Stern website).
Applicants: 4,933
Admits: 1,161
Admission rate: 24%
Number enrolled: 336
Women: 45%
U.S. military veterans/active duty: 9%
LGBTQ+: 10%
Minorities: 45%
Underrepresented minorities: 18%
Students with international citizenship: 43%
Countries represented: 43
Average age: 28
Age range: 23-38
Minorities: 45%
Underrepresented minorities: 18%
Race and ethnicity (multidimensional guidelines)
- White, Non-Hispanic: 52%
- Asian American: 28%
- Hispanic, Latino: 13%
- Did not specify: 12%
- African American, Black: 6%
- American Indian, Alaskan Native or Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander: 1%
Hispanic, Latino: 13%
Did not specify: 12%GPA Statistics
Average GPA: 3.64
GPA 80% Range: 3.36 – 3.89
GPA 100% Range: 3.18 – 4.00
GMAT 10th Edition Statistics
GMAT Average 10th Edition: 737
GMAT 10th Edition 80% Range: 690 – 760
GMAT 10th Edition 100% Range: 660 – 770
GMAT Average Focus Edition: 682 Statistics
Average: 682
GMAT Focus Edition 80% Range: 645 – 725
GMAT Focus Edition 100% Range: 595 – 775
GRE Quantitative Statistics
Q Average: 164
GRE Quantitative Q 80% Range: 160 – 170
GRE Quantitative Q 100% Range: 155 – 170
GRE Verbal Average: 163
GRE Verbal V 80% Range: 158 – 168
GRE Verbal V 100% Range: 154 – 170
Standardized Test Types
- GMAT: 39%
- GRE: 27%
- Test Waiver: 16%
- NYU Test Waiver: 7%
- EA: 6%
- MCAT/LSAT/DAT: 5%
- Test Waiver: 16%
NYU Test Waiver: 7%
Students with work experience: 98%
Average years of work experience: 5.1
Range of years of work experience: 0-14
Prior industries:
- Financial Industries: 31%
- Consulting: 15%
- Other: 10%
- Technology: 8%
- Entertainment, Media: 6%
- Military, Government: 5%
- Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals: 4%Other: 10%
- Law: 4%
- Nonprofit, Arts, Education: 4%
- Advertising, Public Relations: 3%
- Manufacturing, Import/Export, Trade: 3%
- Real Estate: 3%
- Consumer Products, Retail: 2%
- Entertainment, Media: 6%
Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals: 4%
Advertising, Public Relations: 3%
Nonprofit, Arts, Education: 4%
Real Estate: 3%
- Law: 4%
- Engineering: 2%
- Manufacturing, Import/Export, Trade: 3%
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