Common MBA essay mistakes b-school applicants should avoid

Are you an MBA hopeful? If you’re applying to several business schools, you can expect to churn out multiple essays per school applied. But how do you tackle and avoid common MBA essay mistakes that applicants frequently make?

Essays may only be part of the admissions process but they do play an important role. For some, the writing process can be daunting but the essay allows the school’s admissions committee to learn more about you, your career aspirations, as well as why you think you’ll be a good fit for the programme as well as the school. 

Here are some common MBA essay mistakes to avoid at all cost:

Not answering the question

Experts in the area say it’s painfully common to see beautifully written essays by MBA hopefuls that don’t actually answer the question. 

Re-read the question and you can also have a trusted person read your essay to raise any flags if needed or if there are any ambiguities in your responses.

Failing to answer the question can also be the result when you recycle your essays so be sure to focus and tailor your responses per school.

Writing what you think the admissions committee wants to hear

It’s easy to make the mistake of writing what you think the admissions committee wants to hear, but don’t let that throw you off on a tangent by failing to communicate your story and something beyond what has already been said in your resume. 

Highlight your achievements, what motivates you as well as your stories, be it your successes to failures you’ve learned from, to show your authentic self rather than sharing a generic story that you think they expect to hear.

Don’t assume the admissions committee will be familiar with your industry jargons when writing your MBA essay. Instead, keep it simple by using plain, direct language. You can still demonstrate your accomplishments and the like while keeping the content free of too much technical details or overly flowery language. 

Focusing too much on your past

While you want to highlight your accomplishments, failure to highlight your career goals and how an MBA can help you achieve them will unlikely make a great impact on the admissions committee. 

So take the time to demonstrate that you’ve thought through your career aspirations, how you plan to contribute to your school and apply these skills in your career or industry.

At the end of the day, an MBA essay is an opportunity for you to demonstrate to the admissions committee why you deserve a spot at their school, so be sure to take the time to get it done right.