A speaker recently told a story about traveling in Asia, where he saw a stunning emerald. Enchanted by the stone’s beauty, he decided to buy it on the spot. He returned home and took the emerald to a jeweler for appraisal. The jeweler began examining the stone through his magnifier, and as he did so,…
Revise and Polish Your Application Essays
Check out all the blog posts in this series: You’ve completed your first essay draft – this is a great milestone! But outstanding essays are the result of multiple drafts, so now it’s time to revise and edit. Here’s how to get the job done: “Although I have been responsible for a lot of exciting…
Proving Character Traits in Your Essays
When you write an application essay or statement of purpose, you’re trying to establish your worthiness for acceptance at your target school. And as part of that task, you need to show the adcom that you have the character traits their program values. But how do you prove in a written essay that you really are…
Writing a Compelling Accomplishment Essay
Maybe you’re familiar with the concept of macros, which are the nutrients your body needs to function. Achieving the proper balance of macros in your diet leads to optimal health. When it comes to writing your MBA personal statements and application essays, it might be helpful to think of your accomplishments as the macros that can…
Writing An Effective MBA Career Goals Essay
For most people, career enhancement is the primary motivation for pursuing an MBA. If this is true for you, writing your career goals essay demands laser-like focus. The essay must demonstrate a clear understanding of how you plan to leverage the MBA to achieve your professional aspirations. Presenting a well-thought-out and realistic plan for your…
Finding a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
Check out the other posts in this series: All original essays have a unique and distinctive theme, and it can take time and careful thought to identify what yours should be. If you go back to the essays we examined in the previous post in this series, you will see that the public health program applicant opened…
Three Ways Writing About Obstacles Strengthens Your Application Essays
When crafting application essays – whether for graduate school, business school, or any other competitive program – applicants often focus on highlighting their accomplishments. And it’s easy to understand why. Most candidates are eager to share their significant achievements, such as leading a groundbreaking project, making a meaningful impact through research, or spearheading a successful…
The Importance of Researching Your MBA Goals and Being Authentic
Too many times, as an admissions officer, I read applications from candidates who shared career goals that didn’t quite make sense. Whether there was no connection between their target position and what they had been doing or no explanation of how they would successfully pivot to their desired role, I was left wondering how much…
How to Get Into Yale SOM 2025 [Episode 598]
Show Summary In this episode, Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean of Admissions at Yale School of Management, shares an overview of the Yale School of Management. The program offers a distinctive two-year, full-time MBA program emphasizing an interdisciplinary, integrated curriculum to prepare students for leadership in business and society. Bruce discusses how aspiring applicants can prepare…
When the MBA Optional Essay Is No Longer Optional
You’ve already written the required essays that your target business schools have asked for. Do you really need to write the optional essay, too? If you’re a strong applicant who has no weaknesses, low stats, or application inconsistencies to explain, then you might be able to skip the optional essay. But the optional essay is…
How to Project Confidence, Professionalism, and Positivity in Your Essays
So you’ve sat down and brainstormed, and you’re now ready to hit the ground running with your essays. Great! You might be wondering how to best convey your reasons for pursuing graduate school to the admissions committees. What kind of tone or approach should you use? A good rule of thumb is to project three…
Optional and Open-Ended Essay Questions: What’s the Best Strategy?
Many business schools use open-ended essay prompts, which are usually variations of “I wish the admissions committee had asked me…” or “What is a question that you wish we had asked?” The most common among these open-ended questions is the optional essay, where you have free rein to discuss anything you feel is important, something…
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